the Birds of Grand Cayman. 33 



shown by reason of their very wide gape, was bright crimson. 

 After the young were liatched, the behaviour of the parents 

 was interesting. When the nest was approached, the hen 

 generally flew towards the ground, while the brilliantly 

 coloured male went to a conspicuous place at the top of a 

 bush. Then they spread out their wings and tails horizon- 

 tally, fluffed out their feathers, and sharpened their beaks 

 on their respective branches, moving about all the while, 

 and either keeping silence or giving a single or double 

 chirp, the first note of the latter being very shrill. The 

 cock bird varied this performance sometimes by giving a 

 sort of song of six notes. Earlier in the season he has 

 a real song, which might be that of a canary, very much 

 reduced in volume^ One of them, which was singing on the 

 14th of February, 1914, was only just audible at a distance 

 of about four feet. 



The genus Spindalis is an interesting one as it contains 

 seven comparatively distinct species and two less distinct 

 subspecies confined to the West Indian and neighbouring 

 islands. Of these one is confined to each of the larger 

 islands, Cuba, San Domingo, Porto Rico, and Jamaica^ two 

 closely-allied forms to the Bahamas, and one each to the 

 Isle of Pines off Cuba, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel off the 

 coast of Yucatan. 



The species from Grand Cayman^ Spindalis salvini Cory 

 ('Auk/ 1886, p. 499) is here figured (PI. I. fig. 3; for 

 the first time. It is somewhat intermediate between the 

 Cozumel form, S. benedicti (PI. I. fig. 1) and that from 

 Ml!uba, S.pretrei (PL I. fig. 2). From the former it differs 

 in its much less rich coloration, while it can at once be 

 distinguished from the Cuban species by its larger size, 

 and by the presence of a patch of rufous chestnut on the 

 median coverts. 



Average measurements of males are : — 



S.pretrei wing 75, culmen lO mm. 



S. salvini „ 88, „ 12 „ 



S. benedicti ... „ 83, „ 125 „ 



SER. X. VOL. IV. D 



