282 BROOKLYN INSTITUTE MUSEUM. SCIE:nCE: BUIvI.E;TIN 2. 6. 



Myrmopagisi axillaris (Vieillot). 

 MyrmotJicra axillaris Vieill., Nouv. Diet. XII. 1817. p. 113. 

 Myrmothenila axillaris Berlepsch & Hartert, p. y^. 



Not observed on the Orinoco proper, but recorded by Berlepsch 

 and Hartert from Suapure, Nicare and La Pricion on the Caura. 



Myrmopagis melaena (Sclater). 

 Myrynothcriila cherriei Berlepsch & Hartert, Novit. Zool. IX. 1902. p. 72 

 Myrmothenila melaena Berlepsch & Hartert, p. 74. 

 M[yrmopagis] melaena Ridgway Birds N. & M. Amer. V: 1911 : p. 67 



Crit. 



Common along the upper river from the neighborhood of the 

 first falls. This species was found breeding at Maipures in January, 

 and the nest and eggs then collected have been described by Berlepsch 

 and Hartert (/. c), but as my observations made in the field are some- 

 what fuller, I reproduce the following notes from my journal. 



The nest was situated about 2.13 m. above the ground in the 

 midst of a thick tangle of overhanging bamboo branches, the bamboo 

 thicket forming the undergrowth in the high, dense forest which 

 borders the river in that region. The outer walls of the nest were 

 composed of old and broken bamboo leaves, that were very loosely 

 held together, and that served admirably to conceal the nest which 

 was suspended by black thread-like vegetable fibres between the forks 

 of a delicate twig of bamboo. The nest lining consisted of fine, thread- 

 like vegetable fibres or rootlets. 



The eggs are elliptical-ovate in form. When fresh the ground 

 color was a delicate pinkish white, which after blowing became a 

 dead white. They are dotted and covered with criss-cross, fine, short 

 lines of heliotrope purple. The markings are heaviest at the point of 

 greatest diameter and almost entirely absent about the smaller end. 



The nest was discovered two days before it was collected and on 

 each visit the male parent bird was found brooding, and sat so 

 closely that I could approach and almost put my hand on him before 

 he would desert his post. When he would finally flush, it was to 

 slip quietly away and conceal himself in the surrounding thicket. On 

 one occasion I waited for over an hour for his return but was disap- 

 pointed, and finally the female came slipping noiselessly along toward 



^Ridgway, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. XXII. 1909. p. 69. 



