i68



Mr. Reginald Phillipps,



In the following notes, I shall not distinguish between P.

bicolor and P. viarchii, but will refer to them without discrimina¬

tion as Dusky Finches, P. bicolor.


In January last, at the foot of p. 90 of our Magazine, Dr.

Butler writes :—.. .the species of Phonipcira he (Ridgwav) calls

‘ Grassquits,’ a name applied to the genus in Jamaica, but the

meaning of which is not evident.” The name “Quit” is still

common in Jamaica, and sometimes causes confusion (VII., 227),

so a little digression here may be of occasional assistance to our

readers. The excerpts are from Gosse’s Birds of Javiaica, from

which I will quote too on the subject of the Olive and Dusky

Finches. The “Banana Quit” (p. 84), the Black and Yellow

Creeper, Certhiola flaveola (. Br. Mus. Cat. XI., 43), is a Flower-

pecker. The “ Orange Quit” (236), the Rufous-tliroated Tanager,

Glossiptila (fTanagrella) ruficollis (XI., 48), seems to hover be¬

tween the Flower-peckfers and the Tanagers. The “ Blue Quit ”

(238), the Grey Grosbeak, Pyrrhuphonia (. Euphonia ) Jamaica

(XI., 85) is also included in the Panagridae). The “ Black-faced

Grassquit” (252) is the Dusky Finch; and the “Yellow-faced

Grassquit” (249) is the Olive Finch. Writing of the last two,

Gosse says:—“ 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.” He also brings in (253) the “ Bay-sided Grassquit,”

Phonipara adoxa , concerning which he is doubtful, but he adds :—

“The name of Quit is applied, without much discrimination, by

the negroes of Jamaica to several small birds .... it is probably

an African designation.”


Referring to the fields of guinea-grass, Gosse writes (250):—

“ In the autumn, when the grass is grown tall, and the panicles

of seed waving in the wind give it a hoary surface, the little

Grassquits (both Olive and Dusky Finches). .. .throng hither in

numerous flocks, and, perching in rows on the slender stalks,

weigh them down, while they rifle them of the farinaceous seeds.

In March, I have found the stomach of the Yellow-face full of

seeds of the common pasture grasses ; and I have been struck

with the enormous dilatation of the membranous craw, which, as

in the Gallinaceae, occupies the hollow of the furcula. D’Orbigny



