322 SNODGRASS AND HELLER 



the edges of the feathers of the belly. The occurrence of these forms 

 after the breeding season would indicate that the purely black plumage 

 is not acquired until during the second year. Another specimen is a 

 male in Stage V, and another a male in Stage IV. Both of these 

 have black bills and are moulting. There is one adult female with a 

 black bill, and finally one young bird in Stage II with a yellow bill. 

 These specimens indicate the same thing concerning the acquisition of 

 black as do the specimens from Tagus Cove, Albemarle, viz., that 

 the bills of the males are nearly always black by the breeding season, 

 but that the plumage may be only in Stages V or IV. 



We have twenty specimens of Geospiza fortis from James Island, 

 taken in April about James Bay. All of them apparently belong to 

 the subspecies G. f. fortis, being the same as those at Tagus Cove. 

 We have no specimens from James that we could identify as G. f. 

 bauri. Nine of the specimens are adult males, all having black bills, 

 but some are in the black phase of Stage VI and others in the brown- 

 ish. Several in each phase are moulting. One male in Stage V and 

 two in Stage IV are each moulting slightly, all having black bills. 

 Three are adult females, one with a black bill, two with the bill 

 dusky above and paler brownish beneath. Five are young birds but 

 recently from the nest, all in Stage II with yellow bills and soft 

 plumage, and all are moulting. 



From Charles there are in the collection twelve specimens taken 

 in May. Eleven of them clearly belong to the subspecies G.f. for- 

 tis. One, however, an immature male with the lower mandible yel- 

 low, has a bill much larger than that of the others and resembling the 

 bill of G. fortis dubia of Chatham. This specimen may perhaps be 

 G . fortis simillima (Rothschild and Hartert). Five of the Charles 

 specimens are adult males; two are immature males in Stage IV; four 

 are adult females ; and one is an immature female, having the lower 

 mandible yellow and a few new feathers growing in. 



Habits, Song, Nests and Eggs. — At Tagus Cove, Albemarle, 

 Geospiza fortis fortis was found fairly abundant, associating with 

 G. fuliginosa parvula, but was always much less numerous than 

 this species. The songs of the two were different but not radically 

 so, being often very similar, and were always constructed on the same 

 plan. One song consisted of two syllables of which the first had 

 an e-sound (there) and was much prolonged by a sort of r-like trill, 

 while the second had a long e sound and carried the accent. The song 

 may be represented thus : ter-r-r-r-wee' , tcr-r-r-r-wee' . The birds 

 were singing but little at this time, and were very scarce in the man- 

 grove swamps about Turtle Point. 



