CHERRIK: ORNITHOLOGY OF THE ORINOCO REGION. I75 



Four sets of eggs were taken in 1907, all showing a very consider- 

 able amount of variation in the shade of color and the amount and 

 size of the markings. 



One set taken at Caicara on the 7th of May, contained two fresh 

 eggs. In the nest was also one egg of the Venezuelan Cow-bird, 

 Molothnis honarieusis vcneznclcnsis. The two eggs of T. episcopus 

 iiesophilus are ovate in form and measure 21.75 ^ 16.5 mm. and 22 x 15.75 

 mm. respectively. In one the ground color is dirty white with just a 

 shade of bluish green rather thickly marked with dots, spots and blotches 

 of pale ecru drab, underlying spots and blotches of blackish clove 

 brown ; the general ground color of the other egg is darker, the 

 underl3ang markings are larger, brownish drab in color, forming a 

 nearly solid mass of color about the larger end, and the superimposed 

 blotches are a dark vandyke brown. The nest taken with this set 

 of eggs is similar to that described above, a compactly woven, thick- 

 walled cup composed largely of leaf stems and a few dead leaves 

 held in place by a small quantity of spider webs. The nest lining 

 was composed of small pieces and short strips of some soft thin bark 

 beneath a few pieces of fine dead grasses. The nest measures : out- 

 side, 10 cm. in diameter by 6.5 cm. in depth; inside, 6 cm. in diameter 

 by 4 cm. in depth. It is loosely, and it would seem, most insecurely set 

 at the intersection of a small twig, with a larger horizontal branch, the 

 union forming a V-shaped support for the nest. 



A nest containing one fresh egg was found near the same point 

 May 8th. It was placed between the forks of three large limbs which 

 sprang from the same point, two branching almost horizontally and 

 one rising at an angle of about 45° from the horizontal. The nest 

 rested at the base of the angle between the two horizontal limbs 

 which concealed it from below, while the third limb extending out 

 over the nest concealed it from above. In the same tree with this 

 nest, and none more than 3 m. from it were nests of Myiozetetes 

 texensis cohimhianus, Pitangiis sidphuratiis rufipennis and Icterus 

 xantlioriuis, all occupied. The single egg found in this nest is ovate 

 and measures 24.5 x 18.5 mm. The ground color is similar to that of 

 those last described ; the markings vary from a mars brown to a dark 

 Vandyke, and consist of dots and spots thickly spread over the entire 

 surface, and especially about the larger end. 



A nest found May loth. also at Caicara, contained two badly incu- 

 bated eggs. This nest was about 4.57 m. from the ground in a guamal 



