i892.] Cherrie, List of Birds of San Jose, Cos/a Rica. -iZ"! 



rather coarse dry twigs are strewn over the floor. The eggs I am not 

 acquainted with. Mr. Josd C. Zeledon, to whom I am indebted for the 

 above notes, also tells me that if one of these nests be opened at about the 

 time the young are ready to leave the nest, it is found to be one of the 

 dirtiest, foul smelling places that can well be imagined. The young 

 birds occupy the centre of the nest, while all about them and especially at 

 the sides of the opening are piles of the excrement mixed with the pellets, 

 composed of the hard chitinous parts of beetles and other insects com- 

 posing the chief food of the 'Bobos,' that are ejected from the mouth. 

 This mass is reeking with maggots. 



At the time the young leave the nest they are able to lly pretty well. 

 They have the same colors as the adults. But the bill is much shorter, 

 more depressed, and the edges without the serration seen in the adults. 

 The tail is shorter than the wings and nearly square. The eye is sepia 

 brown, not chestnut as in the old bird. 



On the Sth of May, 1889, I bought four live young birds, the pin feathers 

 not yet concealed and the eye light sepia brown. By the 25th of the same 

 .month the iris had changed to a decided chestnut shade, they were fully 

 feathered and the tail of one of the birds measured 3.55 inches. On the 

 28th the birds commenced imitating the notes of the adults; their eyes 

 had become bright chestnut. With the first utterances of the notes of 

 the adults the peculiar jerky motions of the tail commenced. It was most 

 amusing to watch the four birds sitting in- a row together, almost motion- 

 less, only giving the tail first a jerk to this side, then to that, now up, and 

 now down, to see it held for the space of a couple of minutes almost at 

 right angles to the body, and then go with a whisk to the other side, the 

 birds all the time uttering their peculiar cooing notes. 



May 30, I measured the tail of one of the birds and found it to be 4.25 

 inches, an increase of .70 inch in five days. I fed the birds on raw meat, 

 and about this time they began to fight vigorously for their shares. If two 

 happened to get hold of the same piece, neither was willing to let go and 

 each would close its eyes and hang on for dear life, both squealing as 

 hard as they could. June 3, the serration of the bill began to sho^j^-. 

 June 16, the tails were apparently fully grown, and the birds began to tear 

 at the webs at the points of the middle pair of feathers. By the ist of July 

 the tail-feathers were fully trimmed. My Bobos are often restless at night. 

 Frequently, when at work in the museum until eleven or twelve at night, 

 I have heard them jumping about in their cage and answering to each 

 other's notes. 



On one occasion I found the stomach of a bird I had shot filled with 

 snails of a species having a delicate, easily crushed shell. The birds I 

 have in confinement greedily eat earth worms. And one day when I had 

 placed a small live Warbler in the cage,*I returned in about half an hour's 

 time and found the feet and tail of my Warbler protruding from the mouth 

 of one of the Bobos ! 



98. Ceryle cabanisi. — Tolerably common resident. The Costaricans call 

 them ' Correo de Agua.' I have not succeeded in finding the nest. 



