472 GRASSQUIT. 



Mr. H. W. Henshaw was collecting here Vvitli me on the lOth of Jauuurv, 1871, 

 wlien his quick eye detected a s;nall l)ird among the thick bushes, and he instantly sliot 

 it. After making his way into tlie t'.iicket, and searching for a time he returned bearing, 

 his prize, but with a puzzled expression on his face that instantl_y communicated itself to 

 mine when I saw the little gray ))ird which he held in his hand, for it ^vas a species which 

 I had never beheld. It proved to be the Grassquit, the first and. uj) to this date, the oidy 

 specimen ever taken in the Uiiited States. As Mr. Ilens'iaw brushed through the 

 Ian tanas to secxire the bird, the spicy odor of the crushed leaves filled the air and fioated 

 arovind vis as we were examining the specimen ; therefore the Euetheia bicolor is 

 ever associated in my mind with tlie shrub upon which it is figured, and thanks to the care 

 of my artist and engraver, b'oth the l)]rd and plant are placed l)efore tiie reader in a highly 

 creditable manner. 



rUETHEIA CANORA. 

 Meloiiious Grassquit. 



Lo.xia caiiiira Liiineaus, Syst. Nat. I, p. S5S, (17S8). 

 DESCRIPTION. 



Sp. Cn. Smaller in size than the Gras.si|uit and rather more slender in form. 



Color. Adult male. Throat and sides of head, black. On the lower throat, there is a broad hand of 

 bright 3'ellow which e.xtends on to the sides of the neck and passes into a narrow line, reaching to the e.ye. 

 Top of head slaty ; remainder of upper surface, bright olive green. Breast, dark brown, shading into pale 

 gray on the abdomen and under tail covets. 



Female, similar to the male, but with throat dark chestnut brown becoming grayish on the cheeks. The 

 yellow Collar is much paler and the umler parts are more ashy. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Distinguished from all other of the small finches by the peculiar form and yellow collar. 



DIMENSIONS. 

 Length, 3.7.:; : wing, 2.00; tail. --'.0,3 : bill, M ; tarsus, .G2. 



HABITS. 



The Melodious Grasscjuit is a Cuban species, a single straggler of which has Ijeen 

 taken on Sombrero Key, Florida, and recorded by Merriam in the Auk, July, 1888, page 

 322. Of the members of the Genus Euetheia there are three well defined species in the 

 West Indies : the Grassquit, E. bicolor, which occurs on the Bahamas and Antilles, the 

 Melodious Grassquit, which is confined to Cuba, and the Olivaceous Grassquit, which 

 occurs in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, San Domingo and Porto Rico. The first two 

 species mentioned have been taken in Florida as stragglers. I know nothing of the habits 

 of the Melodious Grass(|uit as I never have seen it living, but with its nearest ally, the 

 Olivaceous Grass(iuit, Avhich is also a small species with yellow markings about the head, 

 I am quite familiar, ha-^ing met with it in Jamaica and also on tlie Cayman Islands, where 

 it was the only representation t)f the large family of sparrows and finches. 



The song of the Olivaceous Grassquit is a series of lisping notes not unlike those of 

 the Grassquit, but accompanied by another series of ascending notes. 



