Birds of British Guiana. 501 



swampy ground, forming a secure retreat for a heronry. 

 Until a law was recently passed prohibiting the exportation 

 of plumes, the birds suffered a good deal of persecution 

 from the feather-hunters. The Dauntless Bank is not 

 resorted to for breeding purposes until June or July. 



In January last I made a very interesting trip, accompanied 

 by two other men, up the Lamaha Canal, and then up the 

 Hoorabea Creek for some distance, where we camped in a 

 " benah,'' which is a palm-roofed hut with open sides. 

 Close to us was a forest of eta palms, much frequented by 

 Ara macuvuana, for the sake of the fruit. Every night and 

 morning pairs of these Macaws used to fly across the creek 

 to and from their feeding-grounds. We obtained two or 

 three specimens of the small Ardetta exilis here in a patch 

 of reerly swamp close to the camp ; they allowed of a near 

 approach before taking flight. 



While paddling up the Hoorabea Creek we noticed several 

 examples of Donacobius atricapillus, the " Babbling Thrush '' 

 or " Fantail,^^ as it is sometimes called. There was also a 

 fairly large colony of the Yellow-backed Mocking-bird 

 [Cassicus persicus) within a hundred yards of our camp. We 

 did not obtain any of the nests, as the tree from which they 

 Imng was swarming with stinging ants ; the marabuntas, a 

 species of wasp with a powerful sting, had likewise taken up 

 their abode there. On the Lamaha Canal we found both 

 the nests of the Scarlet-backed Mocking-bird (Cassicus 

 affinis) and of Cassicus persicus. The two species had 

 chosen two large bushes close to the water's edge, and about 

 twenty yards apart, in which their nests were built. One 

 bough contained three or four nests, all woven close together. 

 Most of the nests of Cassicus affinis which we examined con- 

 tained eggs, three in one nest, two in another, and the rest 

 with a single egg each. The nests of C. affinis were much 

 coarser in texture than, and of a diff'erent material from, 

 the nests of C. persicus. In spite of the close proximity of 

 the two species, they did not mix or interfere one with 

 another in any way. On the 5th of February I obtained a 

 fine male, a female, and nests of the " Bunyar " (Ostinops 



SER. VII. — VOL. IV. :2 Q 



