^^^l"'] PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 491 



bird could he identified, owing to its extreme shyness and habit of 

 stealing away On my apinoach. Tlie eggs are two, elliptical ovate, 

 with straggling si^ots of dark brown at the large end. Two eggs, 

 taken from different nests, measure 0.95 by 0,G5, 0.93 by 0.67. 



64. Saltator atriceps I^ess. 



One shot at Greytown P^ebruary 3. This was the only individual 

 I)ositively identified, alMiongh the species may have been common. 



65. Saltator magnoides Lafr. 

 Common in plantations and thickets along the streams. 



66. Saltator grandis (Licht.). 



Xot identified at Greytown, but specimens were obtained near Blue- 

 fields, at San Carlos, and commonly on the Escondido. These birds 

 feed on berries, ripe bananas, and other fruits. They are very restless. 



67. Pitylus poliogaster scapularis Ridgw. 



Common on the Kio Frio and on the Escondido. This Pitylus is 

 gregarious; it inhabits tlie rather open parts and edges of the forests, 

 and occasionally wanders into the banana plantations. The birds sing 

 almost incessantly as tliey travel about in search of food. The song is 

 ohort and jerky, and its resemblance to that of the Dickcissel {Spiza 

 americana) very close, I saw birds with nesting material about the 

 middle of May. 



68. Pitylus grossus (Liun.). 



]!^ot common on the Escondido, where individuals were at times seen 

 in the forest. It is rather shy, and does not appear to go in flocks like 

 the preceding. The call note is similar to that of the Cardinal {Cardi- 

 nalis cardinalis). The skin is very tender. Bill vermilion. 



Family FRI^nTGILLIDJi:. 

 69. Oryzoborus nuttingi Ridgw. 



Not common ; observed at Greytown and on the Escondido. It fre- 

 quents the clearings and thickets around plantations and bordering 

 the forest. The bill is usually flesh-color, occasionally black. I did 

 not note anything further on its habits. 



70. Oryzoborus funereus Scl. 



Abundant at the International Planting Company's plantation on 

 the Escondido, and probably at other places on that river; one speci- 

 men was taken at Greytown. It lives in precisely the same situations 

 and resembles Sporophila corvina so closely that the two birds are difS- 

 cnlt to distinguish at any distance, except by song, which, in this species 

 is very like that of the Indigo Bunting {Passerina cyauea), but is not 



