286 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
things than small eatables. I remember when a large table had 
just been set for dinner seeing a sparrow fly into the room and 
alight upon the edge of a champagne glass. This he at once upset 
by his weight, and it fell to the floor with a crash. He then coolly 
hopped to the next glass with the same result, and probably would 
have gone the round of the table had be not been at once detected 
and banished from the room. Worse still, a sparrow has been 
known actually to ruin a wedding-cake during the absence of the 
bride at church, chipping the icing with his beak, and rolling the 
sugar presentment of Cupid on the floor.” 
Tiaris bicolor omissa (Jard.). Grass-bird; Cane Sparrow. 
— In the rather large series of this bird which I obtained from 
these islands, I am unable to find any characters by which specimens 
and Grenada agree with others from the Grenadines and St. Yin- 
cent. The extent of the black on the underparts and on the head 
is exceedingly variable. One or two of the females show traces of 
black on the chin and upper throat. A male obtained by myself on 
Margarita Island can be exactl} 7 matched by others from these 
islands. 
The Grass-bird is abundant in all these islands, with the excep¬ 
tion of some of the smaller Grenadines (notably Prune). It is the 
commonest bird on Barbados and Grenada, but on St. Vincent 
Coereba citrata , and on the Grenadines Mimus gilmcs are perhaps 
more abundant. On St. Vincent and Grenada it is not found in the 
high woods. 
This little bird is found mainly in open places, especially in 
grassy pastures. It keeps near the ground, in the grass or in low 
bushes. The song is a weak buzzing trill, like that of Coereba 
atrata or C. wellsi, and is given with the wings slightly elevated 
and the head thrown back. 
The nest is a rather bulky domed structure, entered from the side, 
and is usually placed rather low. The eggs are three, sometimes 
four in number, white, spotted, especially about the larger end, with 
reddish brown. They resemble the eggs of Coereba wellsi some¬ 
what, but the ground color is usually a clearer white, the spottings 
more distinct, more reddish, and more segregated about the larger 
end. 
Sporophila gutteralis (Licht.). White-beaked Grass-bird. 
