_Orange-quit._
_Feather-tongue or Sour-sop bird._—(+Rob.+ MSS.)
_Tanagrella ruficollis._
_Fringilla Martinicensis_, +Gmel.+
_Tanagra ruficollis_, ibid.
_Fringilla noctis, var. β._ +Lath.+—Ind. Or.
? _American Hedge-sparrow, fem._ +Edw.+ 122.
? _Le pere noir_, +Buff.+ Pl. enl. 201. fig. 1.
[65] Length 5¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 9, flexure 2⁸⁄₁₀, tail 2, rictus
¹¹⁄₂₀, tarsus ³⁄₄, middle toe ⁶⁄₁₀. Weight 3¹⁄₂ drachms, (apoth.)
Male. Irides bright hazel; beak and feet black. General plumage
rather dull blue; throat deep rufous, cheeks black. Wing-quills and
tail-feathers blackish with blue edges.
Female. Head and neck greenish grey: back olive brown: tertiaries
and their coverts, and tail dark umber; the former with pale edges.
Under parts ashy, approaching to white on the medial line of the
belly.
The tongue of this species, pencilled and barbed at the tip, might
give it a place among the Honey-suckers. It does not climb, however,
nor cling by its feet, but perches. It is not a very common bird in
the lowlands; but in the mountains I have found it rather plentiful.
It frequents berry-bearing trees of various species, in small parties,
with no very strong sociality; its only note is a single chirp, sharp
and shrill. Towards the end of the year, when the dark and glossy
foliage of the orange groves is relieved by the profuse golden fruit,
reminding the beholder, of the fabled gardens of the Hesperides, this
Tanager becomes numerous, hopping about the twigs, and pecking holes
in the ripe fruit. Many are then readily caught by smearing the twigs
in the vicinity of a half-eaten orange, with bird lime, or “gum,”
as it is called, the inspissated milk that exudes from an unripe
naseberry. Females seem to predominate in these foraging parties, in
the proportion of two or three to one; unless the young males have the
same livery as their mothers.
Near the Hallow-well at Content, on a bush whose glossy black berries
have obtained for it the name of _wild pimento_, but which is better
known as _rod-wood_, we found a nest of the Orange Quit, in June. It
was a very deep cup, of a coarse texture, rather rudely formed of
blades of grass, and the leaves of _Olyra latifolia_, interwoven with
stalks of grass. It was built on a horizontal branch, at the divergence
of two twigs, but did not embrace them. Four small eggs, ¹³⁄₂₀ inch by
⁵⁄₁₀, contained at that time embryos half matured: they were white,
splashed with dull red, thinly, except at the larger end, where the
spots were numerous and confluent. The male probably assists in
incubation; for he was seen to emerge from the nest.