Mr. Hill has favoured me with the following note. “Nests of the Grass-bird are frequently brought to me, but without distinguishing between the yellow and the black-throated species. A nest in the garden, built in a _Nerium oleander_, by the latter, [in July,] enables me to set down a remark or two. I see no difference in the structure of the nests of the two species. They are both domed nests, made of pliable dry grass, and lined with horse-hair. This nest is built between the forks of the long vertical stems of the _oleander_, or South Sea rose. Three other vertical stems press it close, and the leaves quite canopy it over. The substratum of the nest, on which it may be said to be bedded, is a mass of long linen rags, wound in and round the forked branch. It is quite true that the Grass-bird very frequently selects a shrub, on which the wasps have built, fixing the entrance close to their cells. I saw a nest in this secure situation a few years ago; it was pointed out to me as illustrating a habit of the yellow-throated species. “The Grass-birds remind me much of the European Sparrow. They are very social, have a strong predilection for the house-garden, and when feeding by half-dozens and dozens together, are very noisy. They have a peculiar shrill chirp; and in the season when the grasses are in seed, their diminutive bodies, for they are smaller than wrens, may be seen weighing down the culm of the grass, everywhere about. “On one occasion, some twenty or thirty of the Yellow-throated Grass-bird constructed a mass of nests, within the wide crutch of a baobab tree, and lived in common.” BLACK-FACE GRASS-QUIT.[71] _Spermophila bicolor._ _Fringilla bicolor_, +Linn.+ _Chloris Bahamensis_, +Briss.+ [71] Length 4¹⁄₄ inches, expanse 6¹⁄₂, flexure 2, tail 1⁶⁄₁₀, rictus ⁴⁄₁₀, tarsus ⁷⁄₁₀, middle toe ⁶⁄₁₀. Exactly like the preceding, except in totally wanting the yellow; the face and throat being black. Both of these birds are permanent inhabitants of Jamaica; their habits are so similar, that the detailed history of one will apply to the other. Both are quite common, and familiar; and both are unmusical: the present is more silent than the former; yet in spring its note may be heard, as it makes its short flights, a single harsh guttural squeak, difficult to indicate by words, and difficult to imitate.