252 PASSERES. — FRINGILLAD^. 



" The Grass-birds remind me much of the Euro- 

 pean Sparrow. They are very social, have a strong 

 predilection for the house- garden, and when feed- 

 ing by half-dozens and dozens together, are very 

 noisy. They have a peculiar shrill chirp ; and in the 

 season when the grasses are in seed, their diminu- 

 tive bodies, for they are smaller than wrens, may 

 be seen weighing down the culm of the grass, 

 everywhere about. 



"On one occasion, some twenty or thirty of the 

 Yellow-throated Grass-bird constructed a mass of 

 nests, within the wide crutch of a baobab tree, 

 and lived in common." 



Both of these birds are permanent inhabitants 

 of Jamaica ; their habits are so similar, that the 

 detailed history of one will apply to the other. 

 Both are quite common, and familiar; and both 

 are unmusical: the present is more silent than the 

 former ; yet in spring its note may be heard, as 



* Length 4-i inches, expanse 6^, flexure 2, tail 1-^, rictus ^, tarsus 

 ^, middle toe -^. Exactly like the preceding, except in totally want- 

 ijig the yellow ; the face and throat being black. 



