208 BROOKLYN INSTITUTE MUSEUM. SCIENCE BULLETIN 2. 6. 



The set consisted of three eggs in which incubation had begun. 

 The eggs seem somewhat large for the size of the bird; they are 

 elongate ovate in form and measure 28 x 18.75 J 28 -5 x l %-5 an & 2 7-5 x J 8 

 mm. respectively. In color they are white, with a faint buffy pink shade, 

 rather thickly marked, especially about the larger end, with two or 

 three sets of markings consisting of dots, spots and irregular lines and 

 blotches of brown. The outermost ones are clove brown superimposed 

 on a brown, nearly a burnt umber in shade which overlies an inner set 

 of markings varying in shade from a drab-brown to a smoke 'grey. 

 Both parent birds were present and evinced much solicitude for their 

 home. 



Birds of this species are frequently kept in cages by the natives. In 

 the market place at Ciudad Bolivar they bring fancy prices. 



GYMNOMYSTAX MEXICANUS (Linnaeus). 

 Oriolus mexicanus L,., Syst. Nat. ed. 12. I. 1766. p. 162. 

 'Gymnomysta.v mexicanus Berlepsch & Hartert. p. 32. 



Native name Maisero. Common from Ciudad Bolivar to the mouth 

 of the Apure. In fresh birds the eye is seal brown, bare skin about 

 eye black ; bill black ; feet black. 



When I reached Ciudad Bolivar in April (1905), great flocks of 

 these birds were to be seen every morning and evening feeding on a 

 swampy piece of ground just back of the city. 



A nest with set of eggs was taken at Caicara, May 8, 1907. It is a 

 somewhat thick walled open cup, or bowl-shaped affair constructed of 

 weed and grass stems and having the nest cavity lined with medium 

 coarse rootlets. The materials are loosely, but neatly woven together. 

 The nest measures inside 5.5 cm. in depth by about 8.5 cm. in diameter; 

 outside ii cm. in depth by 17 cm. in diameter. It was in the top 

 of a Chaparo oak amid the thickly tangled branches of a parasitic plant 

 about 6.10 m. from the ground. The eggs, three in number, were fresh. 

 They are between an ovate and a short ovate in form, and measure 

 26.5 x 20.5 ; 26 x 20 and 26.5 x 20 mm. In color they are a very pale 

 bluish (pale nile blue) marked chiefly about the larger end, with dots, 

 spots and blotches, of brown varying in shade from a clove-brown, the 

 outermost markings, through burnt umber to drab, the latter underlying 

 the darker markings. 



With these eggs was found a single fresh egg of the Venezuelan 

 Cowbird, Molothrus venezuelensis. 



