246 BROOKLYN INSTITUTE MUSEUM. SCIENCE BULLETIN 2. 6. 



Common in the thinly wooded savanna districts; resembling in 

 its pugnacious habits our northern Kingbird. 



Adults have the eye seal brown ; bill black ; feet blackish. 



The nesting season in the neighborhood of Caicara begins at the 

 end of March and continues into May. The nests are open structures 

 loosely put together, rather bulky and consisting of twigs, roots and 

 grasses without other lining material. Frequently the eggs can be 

 seen through the nest walls. Ordinarily the nests are from 1.5 m. to 

 35 m. from the ground placed near the end of the long horizontal 

 limbs of the scrub oak. 



A set of three fresh eggs collected at Caicara May 7th was at the 

 extreme top of a scrub oak (Chaparo), about 4.57 m. from the ground. 

 A little lower down in the same tree and not 1.83 m. distant was a nest 

 of the Blue Tanager, Thraupis cana. The eggs are between an ovate 

 and a short ovate in form and measure 23.5x17.5; 24x17.5; 22.5 x 

 17.25 mm. In color they vary from whitish to very pale vinaceous 

 buff. The markings chiefly about the larger end consist of irregular 

 spots and blotches of dark chestnut overlying some of hazel brown and 

 others yet deeper of lavender. 



MUSCIVORA TYRANNUS (Linnaeus). 



Muscicapa tyrannus L,., Syst. Nat. ed. 12. I. 1766. p. 325. 



Mihulus tyrannus Berlepsch, Ibis, 1884, p. 435 (Angostura) ; Ber- 



lepsch & Hartert, p. 52 (Ciudad Bolivar and Altagracia, Orinoco. 



Venezuela). 



Native name Tijireta. The Fork-tail Flycatcher was very abun- 

 dant about Ciudad Bolivar during the early part of April, equally com- 

 mon at Caicara during the last of April and the first half of May. At 

 that time they were associated in large flocks, and, rising in com- 

 pany, their long tail-feathers fluttering gracefully, presented a most 

 animated picture. 



After the middle of May and up to the first of November this Fly- 

 catcher is much less commonly seen in the vicinity of the two places 

 mentioned. It inhabits the sparsely wooded savanna where it seems 

 to secure much of its insect food from among the tall grasses. In 

 such a locality when undisturbed, single birds will be seen to flutter 

 up from the ground, two or three feet, in pursuit of some flying insect, 

 and again drop back into the grass. 



