Phibalura flavirostris and Lochmias nematura. 487 



gathering nest-materials froiu trees distant some 70 metres 

 from the central buildings. 1 went at once to the place indi- 

 cated and saw the two birds picking off lichens from the big 

 branches, and assuming sometimes a very singular position, 

 more like that of a Formicariine bird (such as Philydor and 

 Xenops) or a Swallow hanging on to its loamy nest. A forked 

 branch of this tree seemed to occupy their attention, but we 

 could not discover anything like a real attempt to make a 

 nest there. Some days afterwards we saw that the material 

 was regularly transported to another tree, a " mulungu/' like 

 an Erytlirina, with very dense foliage. This went on all 

 through October, and we could observe that both sexes, male 

 and female, took equal interest in gathering fragments of 

 lichens. On the 9th November my cousin, Andreas Goeldi 

 (a young man very useful to me in all such researches), told 

 me he had discovered what was probably the nest placed in a 

 fork, somewhat difficult to see from below, and at a height 

 of from 13 to 15 metres. On the 11th and 12th November 

 one of the birds was seen constantly sitting on the nest ; its 

 presence was detected by the forked tail sticking out. Every 

 day we saw the same appearance. The tree in question is at 

 the margin of a brook, distant no more than 10 to 15 metres 

 from our sawing-engine, on an open place crossed by several 

 paths. No noise ever disturbed the birds^ and the most 

 remarkable thing was that, although numerous loads of stones 

 were shot down on the roads beneath the tree, the breeding 

 Phibaluras were not driven off. On the 17th November I 

 resolved to send a boy up the tree — with special precautions, 

 in view of the extremely fragile consistence of the JEJry/Arma- 

 wood, and provided with a saw, a bag, and a long line — in 

 order to bring down the nest and its contents. The sitting 

 Phibalura would not leave and waited till the boy nearly 

 pushed it away. The feat was not easy, the forked branch 

 being very far off the trunk. When the boy had convinced 

 himself of the presence of eggs, I ordered him to take them 

 and to send them down in the bag attached to the line. 

 Then I told him to saw the branch through, to tie it on the 



