564 Mr. W. L. S. Loat on the 



is full of interest ; not so much in the way of bird-life, for 

 which one must go higher up, but for the variety of trees, 

 creepers, and shrubs with which the banks of the river are 

 clothed down to the water^s edge. Bartica, the depot for the 

 principal goldfields, is situated at the junction of the Maza- 

 runi and Essequebo. Several miles from the mouth you see 

 wooden erections placed in the water to mark the course. 

 Upon these one or two Scissor-bills {Rhynchops melanura) 

 are nearly always to be found resting. 



In the forest round Bartica I obtained the Red-billed 

 Cuckoo [Piaya melanogaster) and the Brown Cuckoo 

 {Piaya cay ana). The way in which a specimen of the latter 

 bird managed its long tail, while hopping about in the thick 

 trees overhead, was wonderful : it fell wounded into some 

 dense undergrowth, through which it slipped with the greatest 

 ease, so that I nearly lost it. 



In December I obtained a specimen of Coccyzus minor, 

 but in a very worn state of plumage, especially as regards 

 the ends of the rectrices. On Wakenaam I shot an example 

 of the Spotted Cuckoo {Diplopterus ncevius) or ''My- 

 wife-sick,^^ as it is sometimes called on account of its cry, 

 which is supposed to resemble those words. This bird 

 generally frequents low bushes. The " Old Witch''' {Croto- 

 phaga ant) is found nearly everywhere. One may often see 

 half-a-dozen of these birds all sitting close together on the 

 same bush ; they are also fond of skulking in the long grass, 

 and when walking along you may be close upon them before 

 they move. Crotophaga major is far less common and much 

 more wary; the beautiful bluish iridescent colour of the back 

 and wings makes this a handsome bird in spite of its peculiar 

 bill. I saw a flock of about fifty of these birds in some 

 trees bordering the Lamaha Canal, but most of them kept 

 well out of range of the gun. 



In a clearing in the forest I obtained an example of the 

 White-rumped Barbet (^Chelidoptera tenebrosa) . It generally 

 settles on some prominent object, such as a stump or the 

 topmost twig of a branch of a dead tree, from which it makes 

 short flights, reminding one of our Spotted Flycatcher. 



