CLARK: LESSER ANTILLEAN BIRDS. 
297 
especially in the Grenadines, is met with in scrubby growth. Occa¬ 
sionally it is seen on the ground hunting for insects after the man¬ 
ner of the Robin, but is at such times very suspicious. The 
alarm note is a melodious “ chut, ” with a characteristic intonation. 
The usual call note is a liquid “ pe-ou'-wou, ” entirely different from 
the call of any other bird with which I am acquainted, but suggesting 
the squeal of the Ani. The song, which is usually heard in the 
evening just before sunset (rarely in the early morning), is very like 
that of the Robin, but lacks the peculiar high and strained notes 
occasionally given by that species, being continuous, with little 
variation in the quality of the notes. 
In life the bare skin about the eye is very conspicuous; it is 
bright yellow, inclining to orange, becoming orange on the eyelids. 
It is the same in both sexes. The bill is greenish yellow becoming 
brown at the tip ; the feet are light slaty, and the iris is brown. 
The nest is like that of the Robin, and is usually placed rather 
low, a favorite situation being in a cocoa tree. The eggs are dull 
green, rather thickly speckled with reddish brown, especially toward 
the larger end. They are very variable; in some, the spots are very 
large, in others minute; in some evenly distributed, in others con¬ 
fined to a ring about the large end. 
This species was introduced into Barbados from Grenada in 1902, 
and in the next year a pair successfully raised a brood in the 
vicinity of the Garrison at Hastings. 
Merula nigrirostris (Lawr). Grieve ; Mountain Grieve.— 
On St. Vincent this bird is not rare; it is found in the woods, about 
the clearings and in the vicinity of the mountain streams, most com¬ 
monly in the upper part of the valleys behind Barrouallie and 
Chateaubelair. It is common in the Botanic gardens at Kingstown, 
where it is found with M. gymnophthalma . 
It does not occur on the Grenadines, but is found in the deep 
woods on Grenada, where it frequents the valleys along the mountain 
streams. 
In actions it resembles M. gymnophthalma , but is much less 
commonly seen in the open, and more often in the upper parts of 
trees. It has the same nervous flitting of the wings and tail ob¬ 
servable in that species and in M. migratoria. 
The alarm note is something like that of the Robin, but lower, 
and not so loud. Its call is a peculiar cry, unlike that of any other 
