YELLOW-FACE GRASS-QUIT. 251 



In March, I have found the stomach of the 

 Yeliow-face full of seeds of the common pasture 

 grasses ; and 1 have been struck with the enormous 

 dilatation of the membranous craw, which, as in 

 the Gallinaceae, occupies the hollow of the furcula, 



D'Orbigny, who has given a good figure of it, in 

 Sagra's Cuba, alludes to its prevalence in all the great 

 Antilles. At the Havanna, he says it is frequent- 

 ly caged, being very docile, and readily learning 

 to sing. I have never heard from it any other note 

 than a quivering chirrup as it flits from bush to bush. 



Mr. Hill has favoured me with the following 

 note. " Nests of the Grass-bird are frequently 

 brought to me, but without distinguishing be- 

 tween the yellow and the black-throated species. 

 A nest in the garden, built in a Nerium oleander, 

 by the latter, [in July,] enables me to set down 

 a remark or two. I see no difference in the struc- 

 ture of the nests of the two species. They are 

 both domed nests, made of pliable dry grass, and 

 lined with horse-hair. This nest is built between 

 the forks of the long vertical stems of the oleander, 

 or South Sea rose. Three other vertical stems 

 press it close, and the leaves quite canopy it over. 

 The substratum of the nest, on which it may be 

 said to be bedded, is a mass of long linen rags, 

 wound in and round the forked branch. It is 

 quite true that the Grass-bird very frequently selects 

 a shrub, on which the wasps have built, fixing the 

 entrance close to their cells. I saw a nest in this 

 secure situation a few years ago ; it was pointed 

 out to me as illustrating a habit of the yellow- 

 throated species. 



