PASSERES. FRINGILLAD^. 



" The Grass-birds remind me much of the Euro- 

 pean Sparrow. They are very social, have a strong 

 predilection for the house-garden, and when feed- 

 ing by half-dozens and dozens together, are very 

 noisy. They have a peculiar shrill chirp ; and in the 

 season when the grasses are in seed, their diminu- 

 tive bodies, for they are smaller than wrens, may 

 be seen weighing down the culm of the grass, 

 everywhere about. 



" On one occasion, some twenty or thirty of the 

 Yellow-throated Grass-bird constructed a mass of 

 nests, within the wide crutch of a baobab tree, 

 and lived in common." 



BLACK-FACE GRASS-QUIT.* 

 Spermophila bicolor. 



FringUla bicolor, LINN. 



Chloris Uahamensis, BRIS& 



BOTH of these birds are permanent inhabitants 

 of Jamaica; their habits are so similar, that the 

 detailed history of one will apply to the other. 

 Both are quite common, and familiar; and both 

 are unmusical: the present is more silent than the 

 former ; yet in spring its note may be heard, as 



* Length 4^ inches, expanse 6, flexure 2, tail 1^, rictus -j^, tarsus 

 jZjy, middle toe y^. Exactly like the preceding, except in totally want- 

 ing the yellow ; the face and throat being black. 



