270 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



12. Phonipara bicolor (Linn.). 



" Phonipara bicolor. i Si Si Zerbe.' 



"Everywhere abundant, so common in fact that, thinking I could 

 obtain it at any time, I devoted my attention to other rarer birds, and 

 finally left without a specimen." 



Fam. ICTERIDiE. 



* 13. Quiscalus luminosus, Lawr. Ann. N. Y. Acad, of Sci. v. 1, p. 1G2. 

 " Blackbird. Eesident. 



"Length, <?, 10 J in.; alar extent, 15 J; wing, 5. 

 "Length, 9, 9f in.; alar extent, 14; wing, 4-£. 



" This bird first occurs in the Grenadines. It has seldom been seen 

 in St. Vincent, although abundant on the small islands of Balliceaux 

 and Bequia. The latter is not ten miles distant. It is there called the 

 ' Bequia Sweet \ from its notes : ' Bequia sweet, sweet.' 



" It is social, gregarious, seeming to delight in company, spending a 

 great part of the day in sportive play. The first I saw~ were in Balli- 

 ceaux, one of the northernmost of the Grenadines. I was struck with the 

 similarity of a habit of theirs to one of the Boat-tailed Grakle of Florida 

 and the South, as I had observed it on the banks of the St. John's Eiver. 

 A party of them had come down to drink at a small pool in one of the 

 pastures. After drinking, each male would lift its beak perpendicularly, 

 spread out its wings and one leg, and give utterance to a joyous cry, as 

 though giving thanks for the enjoyment afforded by the drink. Then 

 the whole crew would join in a general outburst, both females and males. 

 Then they would adjourn to a near fence rail, and keep up a social con- 

 versation, stretching their legs and wings and showing their glossy 

 feathers to the sun. The air would then resound with the cries, said by 

 the islanders to be, i Bequia sweet, sweet, sweet.' That was in Febru- 

 ary. Though I then expected to get them to send home with the St. 

 Vincent collection, I was disappointed, as our boat was smashed on a 

 neighboring rock next day, and we were picked up and carried to St. 

 Vincent without an opportunity for getting the birds. 



"In Grenada I found them in abundance again, flying in flocks and 

 inhabiting exclusively the lowlands, the swamps and borders of the 

 lagoons. It is easily attracted by unusual sounds, as I once proved 

 while hunting Yellow-crowned Night Herons in a swamp on the eastern 

 coast, by calling around me not less than forty, who filled the bushes 

 and trees around and above me, staying a long while. 



"Think it is exclusively confined to Grenada and the Grenadines." 



Fam TYRANNID2E. 



/14. Elainea martinica (Linn.). 



"Flycatcher. Eesident. Bather numerous. 

 "Length, <?, 7| in.; alar extent, 11; wing, 3f. 

 "Length, 9, Gg in.; alar extent, 10J ; wing, .'P>. 



