BAHAMA- IIONliY CREEPER. 503 



DIMENSIONS. 



Willi,', from 2.10 to L'.5.") ; tail, l.GU to 1.70 ; bill, from base, !>', to .GO; from nostril, .40 to .-iG ; depth 

 at nostril, .17, width, ; l.j ; tarsus, .Go to .68. Females average a little smaller than the males. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests, very large for the size of the birds, supported by forking twigs in a bush, or small tree, with the 

 entrance on one side above the level of the bottom. Composed of the stems of a small vine, hemp-like fibers 

 woven closely, forming either a spherical or balloon-shaped structure. The lining is composed of finer ma- 

 terial Dimensions of nest, externally, 4.40 by 5.00 ; internal, 3.00 by 3.50 ; entrance, 1.25 in diameter. 



Egg.s, two or three in number, oval in form, not pointed, ashy white in color, spotted, dotted, and 

 slightly blotched with a dull brown, which is inclined to reddish. The markings are distributed quite 

 regularly over the entire surface, e.vcepting on the larger end where they sometime accumulate and become 

 cmfluent, and here may he seen a few dots of umber. The 'eggs agree quite closely with those of the 

 Grassquit, but are, as a rule, rn )re ashy white in ground color, not inclined to bluish, and the spottings are 

 more scattered. Dimensions from 73 by .50 to .75 by .52. 



HABITS. 



The Honuy Creeper is an almiidiint and widely distrilnited .^{)eeie.s throughout tlie 

 Bahamas, Ijeing found on all of the larger islands which I have visited and they also occur 

 on some of the smaller keys, for example, I found them very connnon in Jmie, 1884, on 

 the Green Key whicli lies south of New Providence. They inhabit the scrub, and in the 

 neighborhood of settlements live on the borders of the plantations being attracted there 

 by the fruit. Although they are called B;diama liirds by the natives, I do not remember 

 having seen one eat any bananas. They are, however, very fond of sapodillas and will 

 eat them greedily. Tiiey also aljslract honey from the tlowers of various plants and trees. 

 When o])taining honey from tlowers, they alight on a convenient twig and insert their 

 bills into the calix, or when this is too deep, as in the case of the long Mower of the life 

 leaf, they make an inscision near the base, mucli as is done hy bees under similar circum- 

 stances and thus remove the honey. 



The llight of this species is swift and strong, (juite unlike that of oar warblers. They 

 dash quickly through the foliage, alight sudrlenly, and remain jierfectly motionless for a 

 time ; then when ready to move again they will fly, even for a short distance, rather than 

 to hop from bough to bough. I have never .seen any movement which would suggest 

 ■creeping, thus it is dithcult to see why the name of creeper i> applied to the species. They 

 are not at all (juarrelsorny, and I have seen half a dozen cling together on one sapodilla 

 feeding from an orifice in one side. They are not shy and 1 have had them alight Avith- 

 in a fot)t or two of my head as I have been standing in the .scrub, but thev appear to vary 

 individually in this respect. Three^ which were brought to me by some children, exhibited 

 diflerent degrees of tameness. One male, Avhich sang the full song, was not at all shy, 

 tasting sweetened water out of a spoon which I held in my hand. Another male was 

 moderately tame, while a female was so shy that she would not allow me to approach her, 

 but flew about the room in which they were all ke])t, whenever I attemjited to oOer her 

 food. 



