386 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 
smaller than 7. b. marchii. The average of 14 males, and 9 females 
from Grenada and Grenadine, 4 males and 2 females from St. Vincent, 
and 6 males and 4 females from Barbados,— 39 specimens in all are:— 
wing 51.3 (48-52.5); tail 38.2 (36-40); exposed culmen 9.1 (8.5—- 
9.5); depth of bill 7.4 (7-8); tarsus 17.3 (15.5-18). While on the 
other hand a series of 39 specimens, 26 males and 13 females from 
Jamaica, representing 7. b. marchii, the average is:— wing 52.4 
(50-54.5); tail 40.6 (38.5-42.5); exposed culmen 8.9 (8.5-9.5); 
depth of bill 6.8 (6.5-7.5); tarsus 17.1 (16.5-17.5). 
In coloration it differs widely from TJ. b. marchii in that the dark 
area of the breast is not sharply divided, but merges gradually into 
the white of the belly-region with often scattered spots in blotches of 
darker color, extending posteriorly along the sides of the belly and 
encroaching considerably into the white area. 
It is similar to 7. b. omissa but has a longer tail and different color- 
ation. Clark (Proc. Bost. soc. nat. hist., 32, p. 286) considers both 
the Grassquit from Grenada and St. Vincent as referable to 7. b. 
omissa. The series of skins before me, however, show that grass- 
quits from Grenada, the Gernadines, Barbados, and St. Vincent differ 
from those of the other islands of the Lesser Antilles by having more 
white on the belly. The tails of the former birds are relatively longer 
averaging 38.2 against 37.1 of those of the latter. These characters 
are rather constant throughout and are sufficient, I believe, to dis- 
tinguish separate geographical races. 
I have examined a series of twenty-seven skins from other islands 
of the Lesser Antilles but fail to find any characters upon which to 
separate the bird occurring on the islands from St. Lucia to Porto Rico 
from the mainland specimens. It seems anomalous to find T’.. b. omissa 
in Tobago and Venezuela and then skipping Grenada, the Grenadines, 
and St. Vincent occurring again on the other islands of the Lesser 
Antilles. But until a larger series of skins can be examined it is 
perhaps premature to cite this as a case of convergent evolution. 
Ridgway (Bull. 50, U. S. N. M., 1901, pt. 1, p. 539) records two speci- 
mens of 7. b. omissa taken in Cuba. Since there are no other Cuban 
records I inquired into their authenticity. Mr. C. B. Cory, of the Field 
Museum, informed me by letter that the birds were given to him by 
Gundlach and Cory supposed that they came from Cuba. Like so 
many other of Gundlach’s birds they were probably collected during 
one of Gundlach’s three trips to Porto Rico. The Grassquit is not so 
abundant on Guadeloupe as in the northern Lesser Antilles. On 
Guadeloupe it is confined to the lowlands where it prefers the hot 
