138 BROOKLYN INSTITUTE MUSEUM. SCIENCE BULLETIN 2. 6. 



Three fresh eggs and a nest were taken at Caicara, June 6, 1905. 

 This nest was only about 1.2 m. from the ground in the forks of 

 a sapling. These eggs have the same ground color as that described 

 above, but two of them are so thickly marked with small spots and 

 specks of rufous and chestnut as to remind one of eggs of the Brown 

 Thrasher (Toxostoiiia rufiiin). The remaining egg is marked less thickly 

 and with larger spots of varying shades of color from rufous to chestnut 

 overlying pale ecru-drab spotting. The eggs are all ovate. They measure 

 26 X 20 mm. ; 27 x 21 mm. and 28 x 21 mm. 



Another nest collected on May 22nd, at Caicara is rather unusual, 

 being less bulky than is the rule, and constructed almost entirely of 

 the long fine rootlets that spring from about the trunks and larger 

 branches of some of the trees of the genus Ficus. Only a very 

 little mud is used in the structure. There is a lining of larger root- 

 lets as in the ordinary nest. The inside measurements of the nest 

 are 8.5 cm. in diameter by 4 cm. in depth. The three eggs taken 

 with this nest, as is the case with those described above, show much 

 individual variation. They average smaller, measuring 19x24; 19 x 

 25 and 18x23.5 mm. 



A nest with four fresh eggs (No. 145 r Brooklyn Museum Collec- 

 tion) collected at Agua Salada de Ciudad Bolivar, April 15, 1907, was 

 unusual in that no mud had been employed in its construction. It 

 was located in a niche, 2.4 m. up, in the side of a huge boulder that 

 was surrounded by low trees and tangled bushes of the savanna. 

 That mud had not been used in the building of this nest was prob- 

 ably due to the fact that it could not have been obtained within a dis- 

 tance of less than two miles : the dry season was at its height, and 

 the savanna on all sides was parched and dry. This nest was placed 

 so closely against the wall of rock that at its back only the thickness 

 of the inner lining of rootlets intervened between them. Parallel 

 with the face of the rock the base of the nest measured 24 cm. : at right 

 angles to the face 18 cm. : the outside depth was 7.5 cm. The nest 

 cavity measures 9 cm. diameter by 4.5 cm. in depth, — almost a per- 

 fect hemisphere. The body of the nest is made up of very fine bits 

 of grass and plant stems, strips of soft inner bark, dead leaves, etc. 

 Of the four eggs taken with this nest two are thickly marked with 

 small spots and specks (chiefly pale rufous) nearly evenly distributed 

 over the entire surface. The other two are marked with much larger 



