172 Dr. E. A. Goeldi on Myiopatis semifusca. 



(mingled, of course, with the voices of other birds, such as 

 Troglodytes furvus and Myiarchus ferox), and come from the 

 high tree-tops and bushes. The same notes are frequently 

 heard all through the day until nightfall. Myiopatis semi- 

 fusca is a bird of restless, mercurial temperament and im- 

 petuous in all its movements. 



The common statement in ornithological literature as to the 

 food of the family of Tyrants is that it consists principally of 

 insects and other animal substances. Certainly the scientific 

 name chosen for the family is not against this prevailing 

 idea. The usual opinion concerning the character and dis- 

 position of its members corresponds closely with that known 

 of the nature of the Old-World family of Laniidae, or Shrikes. 

 So far as my knowledge of the literature of Neotropical 

 ornithology goes, there is no evidence against such an 

 opinion. For this reason what 1 have now to relate will 

 be of so much the more interest. 



In the beginning of December, 1903, I was informed 

 by my cousin, Andreas Goeldi, that in the fork of a small 

 pear-tree in the experimental department of the Botanical 

 Garden there was a nest of this little Tyrant containing 

 two half-fledged nestlings (see text-figs. 12 & 13, pp. 170, 

 171). At the same time he stated that his previous 

 observations, made in the Serra dos Orgilos Mountains, in 

 Southern Brazil, on an allied species of small Tyrant, were 

 now being confirmed as to the food of the young, which 

 consisted of the berries of parasitical Loranthaceae. We 

 proceeded together to the spot to verify the facts, and we 

 &oon found abundant evidence of the correctness of this 

 statement in the innumerable berries of Loranthus glued on 

 all the neighbouring branches and twigs within a radius of 

 some metres. 



Close observation confirmed the fact that the parent 

 birds in their incessant visits to their young were the bearers 

 and planters of the berries. They bring in their beaks and 

 crops the small, whitish, round berries of the " herva de 

 passarinho " * from the neighbouring fruit-trees, where 



* According to kind information furnished by Dr. T. Huber, chief of 

 the Botanical Department of our Museum, the most common species of 



