CHEKKIK: ORNITHOLOGY OF THE ORINOCO REGION. 259 



interstices are to be observed, and considerable force was required to 

 mai<:e an opening through the nest walls in order to remove the eggs. 

 This nest, bristling with thorns, and built of strongly interwoven 

 twigs, together with its peculiar shape, would seem to ofifer an ideal 

 concealment and safe retreat for the eggs and the parent bird during 

 incubation and later for the helpless young. The eggs are a pale 

 greenish in color, ovate in form and measure 19.8x12.2; 20.2x15.5 

 and 20.5 X 15.5 mm. 



A second nest taken on the same date was similar in general shape 

 and in the materials employed in construction, but was some 40 cm. 

 from the ground in the forks of a low tree. It was not. however, in 

 any degree concealed by foliage ; and the entrance tube was almost 

 at right angles to the body of the nest, its position doubtless being 

 determined by the supporting limb, while the entrance tube in the 

 example described above entered at an angle of about 45° to the body 

 of the nest. This nest contained three eggs with incubation well 

 advanced. The eggs are uniform in color with the ones above 

 described but are more of a short ovate in form. They measure 

 19 X 15.2; 19.3 X 15.5 and 18 x 15.5 mm. 



SvNALLAXis ciNNAMOMEA (Gmelin). 



Ccrthia cinnamomca Gm., Syst. Nat. I. 1788. p. 480. 

 Synallaxis cinnamomca Berlepsch & Hartert, p. 59. 



Found abundantly at Ciudad Bolivar and at various points on the 

 San Feliz River near its junction with the Cuchivero River (and in 

 1897 very common at Altagracia, half way between Bolivar and Cai- 

 cara), but rarely met with at Caicara. It inhabits the thickets and 

 low bushes bordering streams and ponds. 



Eye in different examples, varying from a hazel brown to a pale hair 

 1:)rown ; bill, plumbeous above, pale below ; feet, from a slate to a. 

 plumbeous grey. 



A nest containing two fresh eggs, together with the parent bird,, 

 was collected at Las Guacas on the San Feliz River May 31. 1907. 

 The nest, similar in structure and similarly located to nests of vS". a. 

 albigiilaris, was about 60 cm. from the ground in the centre of a thorny 

 bush. The eggs, a pale greenish or bluish green in color, are ovate 

 in form and measure 19.25 x 14.35 ^^'^t^- and 19.25 x 14.5 mm, respect- 

 ively. 



Beebe obtained specimens at Guanoco in the delta region. 



