1 30 G. M. Allen, Summer Birds in the Bahamas. \ a^ 



mouth of a large open cavern among whose upper ledges there may have 

 been nests though no birds were seen £0 alight. A single swallow was 

 also observed flying about on the edge of the pine woods at Great 

 Bahama. 



54. Ccereba bahamensis (Reich.). Bahama Honey Creeper; "Yel- 

 lowbreast." — This is one of the commonest and most characteristic of 

 the Bahaman land birds, and was found on every island and cay where 

 there was tree or bush growth. Few or none occur in the mangroves, 

 however. At New Providence in early July, we occasionally heard the 

 peculiar wirey song of the Honey Creeper which has somewhat the 

 quality of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet's intricate melody with a peculiar 

 far-away and ethereal softness. Most of the birds were through nesting 

 at the time of our visit and we found numbers of abandoned nests. 

 These were usually from four to six feet from the ground, in the fork of 

 a small bush, globular, with the entrance near the top at one side. A 

 nest containing four partly incubated eggs was found July 4, at Elbow 

 Cay. Everywhere on the islands, among the bushes and thickets were 

 little groups of these birds, old and young. They were exceedingly tame 

 and eyed us curiously, often but arm's length away. At Great Bahama 

 we found them as abundant as elsewhere yet the species is almost 

 unknown on the Florida coast only 60 miles distant. A partial albino 

 was taken at Elbow Cay, July 5. The yellow patches were present as in 

 normal specimens but the rest of the plumage was whitish. 



55. Dendroica petechia flaviceps Chapman. Bahama Yellow 

 Warbler. — This was nowhere a common bird though we found it 

 among the large mangrove swamps in several localities as at Great 

 Abaco, Moraine Cay, and Great Sale Cay. On July 4, at Elbow Cay, an 

 adult male accompanied by two full grown young in immature plumage, 

 was observed among some bushes not far from a small swamp. The 

 bright song of the old bird somewhat resembled that of our Dendroica 

 (estiva. On a few other occasions we observed singing birds; and while 

 among the Great Abaco Marls we found several young birds of the vear 

 and one or two singing adults in a large mangrove "bush" or island, 

 July 6. 



56. Dendroica dominica (Linn.). Yellow-throated Warbler. — A 

 single specimen was obtained at Mangrove Cay, Andros, by Mr. Owen 

 Bryant on August 2. Another was also seen at Nassau by Mr. Bryant on 

 August 7. Doubtless these were early migrants. 



57. Dendroica pityophila bahamensis Cory. Bahama Warbler. — So 

 far as known this species is confined to the large islands of the northern 

 Bahamas where it lives among the pines. We found a few at Great 

 Bahama, and one immature bird taken there July 17, was just beginning 

 to acquire the yellow breast and crown feathers. These are active, rest- 

 less little birds and live well up among the branches of the slender pine 

 trees. Several times we heard the short rich song during the afternoon 

 of July 17. 



