XANTUSS BECARD 9 



the mandibles. Doubtless at other times they brought insects so 

 small that they could be carried completely inside the mouth, and 

 therefore passed unseen. Now at last the male began to enter the 

 nest. 



"As the nestlings became older, their parents brought them por- 

 tions that were larger and more easily discerned. Small green 

 larvae were the things that I most often recognized, and there were 

 a number of small butterflies and moths. The male and female were 

 equally assiduous in feeding the nestlings, but only the female 

 brooded them. The becards hunted in the manner characteristic 

 of their family; that is, they remained quietly perched until they 

 sighted their prey, then made a rapid dart to snatch it from the 

 air, or from the foliage upon which the creature was crawling, 

 without themselves alighting there." 



Wlien the nestlings were 10 days old Mr. Skutch began to hear 

 their weak little calls, and soon they could utter the typical calls 

 of the adults, but in a weaker voice ; eventually they became rather 

 noisy nestlings. When the parents were last seen carrying food 

 to the young, the latter had been in the nest 18 or 19 days. Some- 

 time during the next 2 days, the nest was broken open, after which 

 nothing was seen of either parents or young; thus the story of 

 these dauntless becards ended. 



Plumages. — I have seen no specimens of aTbiventris or richmondi in 

 either nestling or juvenal plumages, but, as the plumage changes are 

 doubtless similar to those of the other races, with due allowance made 

 for subspecific differences, the following remarks by Mr. van Rossem 

 (Dickey and van Eossem, 1938) are significant : 



Sequence of plumage in the males has been worked out with the combined 

 series of latirostris and sumichrasti, since the two are identical in this respect. 

 Two juvenal males are identical in coloration with the black-headed phase 

 common to both juvenal and adult females. After the postjuvenal molt the 

 young males resemble the black-lieaded females, except that the upperparts are 

 darker and more grayish brown, the underparts are paler and more grayish 

 huffy, and the throats are frequently tinged with pale salmon-pink. The pri- 

 maries, secondaries, and rectrices are not replaced at this molt, but are worn 

 until the first annual molt the subsequent fall. During the first winter and 

 spring, occasional feathers are added to the body plumage (there seem at this 

 stage always to be a few pin feathers about the head) and in the spring the 

 innermost tertials are renewed, but there is no definite spring molt which 

 results in a change of the type of plumage worn. Males, at least, breed in this 

 immature plumage. Eight examples of this one-year-old-stage were taken. 

 They were collected in September, October, January, April, May, July, and 

 August ; those of the last two months are in the first annual molt. 



The second-year plumage, which is attained at the first annual molt, is very 

 similar to that of the fully adult male, but the underparts and rump are 

 strongly tinged with brownish or olive, the rectrices show terminal edgings 



