CHERRIE : ORNITHOLOGY OF THE ORINOCO REGION. 199 



eggs, one fresh and two badly incubated. One of the incubated eggs 

 was broken. Of the measurements given above the smaller is for the 

 fresh egg. 



A second nest taken on the same date looks as though it were an 

 old one that had been "refurnished" with a new lining which on one 

 side extends considerably above the edge of the old nest which had 

 tipped to one side. The lining is a fine root-like vegetable fibre (hazel 

 brown in color). The old nest is made up of fine dead twigs, mostly 

 thorny, firmly bound together and attached to the surrounding twigs 

 and vines by spiderwebs. This nest was about 25.3 cm. above the 

 water. The inside measurements are 4.8 cm. in diameter by 2.3 cm. 

 in depth. The two fresh eggs measure 19.5 x 14.5 and 20.5 x 14.75 

 mm. June 5, 1905, a nest was found in the tops of some bushes, 

 about 1.5 m. above the ground, in a marsh, that within another three 

 weeks would have been completely inundated. The body of the nest 

 is composed of fine dead grasses and weed tops firmly bound to- 

 gether and to the surrounding twigs by spiderwebs. The whole is 

 neat, trim and substantial in appearance, although so lightly builded 

 that the eggs are readily seen through the bottom of the nest. There 

 is an inner lining of fine, horse-hair-like black vegetable fibres. The 

 inside measurements are 5.5 cm. diameter by 2.9 cm. in depth; outside 

 9x5 cm. The nest contained two eggs with incubation far advanced. 

 Only one was preserved, and that measures 20.75 x J 4-5 mm - 



In juvenal plumage, this species is a dark sepia brown above, 

 wings and tail brownish black. There are only the faintest indica- 

 tions of paler edges to the feathers of the back and the wing coverts. 

 Below the portion of the cheeks and throat that is crimson in the 

 adult, is a pale ochraceous buff; the remaining under parts are white, 

 faintly buffy on sides, flanks and under tail-coverts. 



Succeeding the juvenal plumage, there is a partial moult, in 

 which the sepia brown feathers of the head are replaced, on the centre 

 of the crown largely by ones with brownish black tips and crimson 

 bases, the feathers themselves somewhat lanceolate in form but not 

 markedly elongated. In this stage of plumage the sides of the face, 

 lores and ear-coverts become brownish black ; the chin is blackish, 

 and the ochraceous buff feathers of birds in juvenal plumage are 

 largely replaced by rufous with slight intermixture of crimson, the 

 crimson feathers having the lanceolate form of those of adult plu- 

 mage. The remaining under parts are pale buffy white. 



