Definition of "grassquit" in English

noun

1. Any of several small tropical birds now placed in the tanager family Thraupidae (but previously in Emberizidae), common in the West Indies and in countries of Central and South America around the Caribbean Sea.

   • 1988 [1948], David Lack, Notes (for 1988 edition), Darwin's Finches, page xv, Steadman (1982) suggests that Darwin's finches are so closely related to the South American blue-black grassquit (Volatinia jacarina), that all 14 species plus the grassquit should be considered congeners within a new genus, Geospiza.