478 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



On the banks of the Rapo-nunni, in the Rewa forest, I have 

 heard the piercing call of the pi-pi-yo, or gold bird, alias 

 greenheart-bird. It is supposed to be found only in green- 

 heart forest. Mr. C. Wilgress Anderson, F.R.G.S., For- 

 estry Officer, tells me that no greenheart is to be found in 

 the Rapo-nunni district. Indians say some exist in the 

 Rewa forest. 



Tyrants, of the kiskadee family, need no special men- 

 tion, nor do cotton birds, manakins, tanagers, and cotingas 

 — after which the Cotinga River, ceded to Brazil, is named. 

 Perhaps an exception should be made in the case of the 

 scarlet-breasted tanager, ( Pithy s erythromelas) , two speci- 

 mens of which were noticed in a cashew tree, near to our 

 house at the ^Mission. In that tree I saw, upon another oc- 

 casion, a dark bird with a crimson collar and a crimson under- 

 tail, which Mr. Rodway suggests may have been Lathria 

 streptophora, a cotinga, which, he says, is not mounted in the 

 Georgetown INIuseum. The so-called American robin may 

 be seen upon the savannahs, at Tuka. And from the hills, 

 beyond, the Indians bring that gorgeous plumed and sweet 

 songster, the troupial. We bought several and let them 

 loose, after a short spell in the cage. They would fly about 

 the village and come in at meal-times and feed from the 

 hand. Early in the morning they would appear at our win- 

 dow and carol forth, then search the house for insects. 

 When full-grown, the male assumes an almost crimson hue, 

 so different from the yellow of his youth. The head becomes 

 a deep black, matching the wings and the well-shaped tail. 

 The wings have bars of white. Tliese birds attracted a pair 

 of yellow birds, with brown wings, barred with white. They 

 would join our pets upon the verandah and feed and bathe 

 with them. The Indians call them chiwitaw, they may be the 

 yellow-crested troupial. Icterus croconotus. The black- 

 crested, the far handsomer bird, is called Icterus vulgaris. 

 Farther westward along the Pakaraimas the brilliant cock- 

 of-the-rock has its habitat. I have seen the skins of two, 



