228 GRASSQUIT. 



and they resemble rolling clouds of living green risirig in huge billows one above the 

 other. This deciduous mass is thickly starred with the large, white flowers of the 

 Ipomcea Bona-Nox and the purple blossoms of the wild convolvulus, while the orange 

 and yellow Lantana Catnara fills the air with a peculiar fragrance. As can readily be 

 imagined, these dense thickets were filled with birds, and therefore we frequently visited 

 the lovely spots for the purpose of taking the various kinds found there. 



"Mr. Henshaw was collecting here with me on the 19th of January, 1871, when 

 his quick eye detected a small bird among the thick bushes, and he instantly secured it. 

 After making his way into the thicket and searching for a time he returned, bearing his 

 prize, but with a puzzled expression on his countenance, that instantly communicated 

 itself to mine when I saw the little gray bird which he held in his hand, for it was a 

 species which I had never beheld. It proved to be the Black-headed Finch, the first and, 

 up to this date, the only specimen ever taken in the United States. As Mr. Henshaw 

 brushed through the lantanas to secure the bird, the spicy odor of the crushed leaves 

 filled the air and floated around us as we were examining the specimen ; therefore the 

 Phonipara zena is ever associated in my mind with the shrub upon which it is figured 

 in my work." 



It does not seem to be a resident species, but is evidently only a straggler from 

 the near Bahama Islands, where it is a numerous resident in suitable localities. It is a 

 rather plainly colored bird of a dull black color on head and lower parts and a dull 

 olive-green on back, wings, and tail. 



A near congener of this bird, the Melodious Grassquit, Euetbeia canora Brewer, 

 an abundant inhabitant of all suitable localities of Cuba, is a very beautiful and 

 interesting little species. 



According to a report of Dr. H. C. Merriam, it has been found on Sombrero Key, 

 Fla. It is not improbable that it often visits the extreme southern Keys of Florida, if 

 not the mainland also. The Melodious Grassquit would be an excellent bird for intro- 

 duction into Florida, being a resident species in Cuba, and very beneficial, lively, and 

 melodious. In Germany it is a highly esteemed cage bird, and young ones have been fre- 

 quently raised in confinement by Dr. Karl Russ and other bird-lovers. These tiny birds of 

 an olive-green color, with velvety black throat, cheeks, and face, and with a broad yellow 

 collar round the black throat, are extremely lively in the cage, but they are veritable 

 game-roosters if several are kept together. They live quite well on Canary and millet 

 seeds in winter, but need a diet like the Indigo Bunting in spring and summer. They 

 build a beautiful globular nest with a small entrance on the side. Like the small African 

 and Australian Finches the pair frequently sits together even in the nest. The four, 

 rarely five eggs, are grayish, or greenish-white, minutely dotted and blotched with 

 green, dark and light brown. The young birds leave the nest very early and when 

 scarcely fledged. 



The Cuba Finch or Melodious Grassquit is known in the eastern part of Cuba 

 under the name of Senserenico and in the western part, according to Dr. J. Gundlach, 

 Tome guin del Pinor is its common name. 



