MEXICAN BANANAQUIT 



the West Indies. They are small song birds 

 with a usually long, slender, more or less 

 curved bill and a tongue brushy at the tip, 

 adapted to extracting nectar and small in- 

 sects from flowers, on which they feed, as 

 well as on ripe fruit, hovering or clinging to 

 flower or twig in the process. 



The males are often brilliantly colored, but 

 the females are always plain. They are con- 

 sidered to be related to both the tanagers and 

 the American warblers, though seemingly 

 more closely to the Meliphagidce or Honey- 

 eaters of Australasia. 



i. Coereba mexicana mexicana (Sclater) 

 Mexican Bananaquit 



Sexes alike. Length 90 mm. (3.55 in.); tail 

 32 mm. (1.25 in.). Top and sides of head, ex- 

 cepting cheeks, sooty, rest of upper parts, ex- 

 cepting rump, grayish olive; rump yellowish 

 olive; a stripe of white from bill over eye; wings 

 with a more or less concealed white spot; cheeks, 

 chin and throat ashy gray; rest of under parts 

 yellow, olive tinged. Bill black, deeply curved 

 and sharply pointed. 



Found in clearings of the heavy forest. "In 

 thickets and second growth." (Jewel.) 



2. Dacnis cayana ultramarina (Lawrence) 

 Ultramarine Dacnis 



Length 112 mm. (4.40 in.); tail 43 mm. 

 (1.70 in.). 



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