1922. j TRINIDAD BIRDS. 137' 



(8) Several nests were seen at Maracas under the overhanging 

 leaves of a gru-gru palm in August 1920. Some of these nests were 

 attached along one side to the almost vertically hanging tip of the leaf. 



The egg is pale sky blue with a ring of narrow irregular black 

 and dark brown streaks near the blunt end. 



The food is indicated by the following observations : 



(1) Shot among sugar cane on October 20, 1917 at Harmony 

 Hall contained two froghoppers {Tomaspis saccharina), two cate^rpillars 

 several small beetles and small pieces of vegetable matter. 



(2) Shot alongside its nest in a tree on La Fortunee sugar estate 

 on July 11,1918 contained one froghopper, two moths (one apparently 

 Castnia licus) and several small beetles. 



30. Molothris atronitens. Cab. Lazy Bird. 

 Molothris bonariensis. Leotaud No. 149. 

 This uniformly blue black bird resembles the European cuckoo 

 in that it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, usually choosmg 

 that of the house wren. 



I have no absolutely certain records of its eggs, but on October 6, 

 1920 I found a nest of the house wren on verandah of a house in 

 Maracas Valley containing one typical house wren egg and one about 

 the same size but less shiny and with a distinctly blue ground colour 

 unlike any house wren egg I have seen. This is possibly that of the 

 lazy bird. 



In August 1920 0. Calvert saw a lazy bird enter the nest of a 

 house wren in Tobago which contained nine eggs. Later one of 

 these eggs was found on the ground beneath the nest and he believes 

 that it was thrown out by the lazy bird. 



According to Mr. H. P. C. Strange, who resided for some years 

 in Tobago, this bird is not always parasitic, as he has on more than 

 one occasion seen them feeding their own young. 

 The bird is both insectivorous and vegetarian. 

 One bird shot at Harmony Hall on July 1, 1919 contained a few 

 froghoppers {Tomaspis saccharina) remains of two beetles (one a 

 weevil) and several seeds (?corn). 



Guppy (Bull. Dept. Agr. 1914 XIII 153) records it as injurious 

 to rice fields. 



31. Agelaius icterocephalus. The Golden Head. 

 Chrysonus icterocephalus. Leotaud No. 151. 

 This is a remarkably beautiful bird ; blackish-brown with a 

 golden-yellow head and neck in the male. 



It is chiefly seen in the more open parts of the Island and in the 

 neighbourhood of ponds and swamps, where it breeds. 



