176 BROOKLYN INSTITUTE MUSEUM. SCIENCE BULLETFN 2. 6. 



oak. One of the eggs was broken in removing the embryo. The 

 single specimen preserved is ovate in form and measures 22.5 x 16.75 

 mm. The ground color of this egg is uniform with the two last 

 described, but the general color of the egg surface is considerably 

 lighter owing to the sharp outlines of the small spots, which are 

 thickly scattered over the entire surface, especially about the larger 

 end, and which vary in color from drab to clove brown. 



A fourth set of two fresh eggs, taken May 21, 1907, on the San 

 Feliz River near its junction with the Cuchivero River, are so heavily 

 marked as to almost completely hide the dirty white ground. In 

 one of the eggs the markings of brown, from a bistre to a Vandyke, 

 blend into and overlap one another over the entire surface of the egg. 

 The other egg differs only in having a few superimposed dots, spots 

 and blotches of dark clove brown scattered irregularly over the egg 

 surface. These eggs are ovate in form and measure 22.25 x I 7- 2 5 

 and 22.25 x T 7-5 mm - I* 1 the same tree with the nest from which 

 these eggs were taken, and not 2 m. from it, was an occupied nest of 

 Tyrannus melancholicus. 



From my observations and the material secured we may conclude 

 that normally this species lays two eggs, and that the nesting season 

 lasts from April to June in the middle Orinoco region. Nests are placed 

 from 1.5 to 6 m. from the ground, favorite nesting sites being in the 

 guamal or scrub oaks that sparsely dot much of the savanna country, 

 and frequently in trees occupied by nests of other birds. 



This form of the Blue Tanager is found throughout the delta 

 region along the middle Orinoco and up beyond the falls of Atures 

 and Maipures, where it is found in company with and is gradually 

 replaced by T. episcopus episcopus. 



The American Museum has specimens from Maripa, on the 

 Caura River, collected in February, April, May and December, and 

 from Ciudad Bolivar on the Orinoco collected in June, July and 

 December. One of the December birds from Ciudad Bolivar, in the 

 paleness of the blue shoulder patch, approaches T. episcopus episcopus. 

 There is a wide variation in the intensity of the coloring of the blue 

 shoulder patch which is due largely, if not entirely, to age. However, 

 the same might be said regarding the general coloring. 



Birds in juvenal plumage are greenish grey, heavily washed on the 

 back with sage green, below much paler and only faintly washed with 

 a slightly yellowish green. Median and lesser coverts like the back; 



