306 Dr. Emil A. Goeldi on the Ne4rng of 



forests of Colonia Alpina^ Serra dos Orgaos. Tlie natives of 

 this district know the bird well under the trivial name " vira- 

 folha/' that is " leaf-overthrower/^ Burmeister and Mene- 

 tries, however, declare that they never observed any sach 

 action. Since the time of Menetries nobody has written 

 about the nesting of Sclerurus, and even the description 

 given by that author affords no clear idea respecting the 

 matter. He writes, in his 'Monographic de la famille 

 des Myiotherinse ^ (1834): — "Get oiseau {Oxypyga scansor, 

 Menetries) vit solitaire dans les vieilles capouaires, sautille 

 continuellement k terre, et se fourre souvent dans les 

 broussailles ; il grimpe aiissi les vieux troncs d'arbres, ou 

 il cherche ces grosses fourmis frugivores qui abondent dans 

 ces parages ; son cri est analogue a celui de notre moineau 

 Fringilla domestica ; le Prince de Neuwied nous apprend 

 que son Tinactor fuscus jette les feuilles en Fair, etc., ce que 

 je n'ai pas remarque. Dans un trou de fourmiliere Termites 

 je trouvai a deux reprises differentes deux oeufs roussatres 

 tachetes de couleur plus foncee; ces oeufs resterent environ 

 quinze jours a eclore, apres lesquels en sortit le jeune oiseau 

 convert de duvet roussatre, ayant les pennes des ailes et de 

 la queue developpees de six lignes; je fus chaque jour visiter 

 I'endroit, et le troisieme jour ces petits avaient disparu. Cette 

 espece est commune dans la province de Rio de Janeiro, sur- 

 tout dans les vieilles capouaires pres de Sumidorio, a environ 

 quarante lieues de la capitale ; je la trouvai rarement dans la 

 province de Minas Geraes'^ (op. cit. p. 521). 



On the 19th December, 1894, my cousin discovered casually, 

 on a hunting excursion, the breeding-place and nest of Scle- 

 rurus umhretta. The locality is in a wild and very romantic 

 mountain-valley in the upper course of the Rio Alpina, 

 certainly not less than from 900 to 950 m. above the sea- 

 level. In August, 1895, I visited the spot, accompanied by 

 my cousin, and am therefore able to enter into details on 

 the subject. 



On both sides of the brook — in the rainy season a most 

 turbulent mountain-torrent — are steep slopes, covered with 

 dense, high, and magnificent forests, visited only by hunters 



