COTTON-TREE SPARROW. 257 



found in it, of an elongated form, measuring 1 inch 

 by 1^ J ; of a pale glaucous white, thickly strewn 

 with longitudinal dashes of pale reddish-brown, con- 

 fluent at the larger end. 



The Black Bulfinch is said to frequent coffee 

 trees, for the purpose of feeding on the ripe berries. 

 The stomachs of such as I have examined, contained 

 farinaceous seeds, comminuted into a pudding-like 

 mass. 



It has a simple but rather sweet song, which 

 may be imitated by rapidly pronouncing the syl- 

 lables ivis, wisy wis, wis, wee, the last much 

 protracted. It can hardly be distinguished from the 

 note of the Black Shrike. Early in the morning 

 in spring, he delights in a rapid vibratory strain, 

 which I can compare to nothing, for tone and 

 duration, so well as to the sound produced by one 

 turn of the key in winding up a musical snuff"-box. 



One day in April, as I was riding past the cliffs 

 at Cave, on the road to Savanna-le-Mar, I observed 

 two Cotton-tree Sparrows, whose motions arrested 

 my attention. They were both males in adult 

 plumage. One presented himself to the other, open- 

 ing his beak to the utmost ; when the other seized 

 something in his mouth, and tugged at it; this 

 action was repeated several times, but whatever 

 was the object pulled at, it appeared pretty firmly 

 attached to the lower mandible, and refused to come 

 away. From the evident desire of the one operated 

 on, I conjecture that it was an application for the 

 removal of some extraneous object which had acci- 

 dentally stuck into the flesh of the mouth, and gave 



