CHERRIE: ORNITHOLOGY OF THE ORINOCO REGION. 365 



SYRIGMA SIBILATRIX (Temminck). 



Ardea sibilatrix Temm., PI. Col. V. 1824. p. 271 ; Berlepsch, Ibis, 1884 



p. 438 (Rio Apure). 

 Syrigma sibilatrix Berlepsch & Hartert, p. 126. 



Native name Garza Carricia. Not common. Adult male and 

 female; eye pearl grey; bill rose pink, blackish at the tip; feet black. 

 At the point of union between the blackish tip and rose pink body of 

 the bill there is a short space of whitish fading into the two adjoining 

 colors abruptly, while between the rose pink and azure blue of the max- 

 illa there is a narrow band of cobalt blue into which the two adjoining 

 colors merge abruptly. 



This, the Snowy Egret, and other species of herons, are often seen 

 about the native houses, sometimes tied with a string about one leg, but 

 more frequently they are at liberty within the patios, the wing having 

 been amputated at the wrist to prevent their flying away. 



BUTORIDES STRIATA (Linnaeus). 

 Ardea striata L., Syst. Nat. ed. 10 I. 1758. p. 144. 

 Butorides cyanurus Berlepsch, Ibis, 1884.. p. 439 (Angostura; Rio 



Apure). 

 Butorides striata Berlepsch & Hartert, p. 126. 



Native name Chicuaco. Not common, or at least rarely seen. I 

 noted it at Bolivar, and at other points on the river as far up as the 

 falls of Atures. 



Colors taken from a freshly killed adult female were : eye lemon 

 yellow, bare skin about eye sulphur yellow ; bill black above, pale dusky 

 greenish below ; lores black; feet olive green. 



Two nests were found in the tree tops on a submerged island in 

 the Orinoco near Caicara July 18, 1907. One contained two, the other 

 three eggs. In the two eggs incubation was far advanced; in the set 

 of three it had just begun. The nests were each slight platforms 

 of dry sticks. The nest containing the three eggs was only about 15 

 cm. above the water, and, as the river was rising rapidly, would have 

 been under water before the next morning! The other nest was about 

 one metre above the water. 



The eggs are ovate approaching elliptical in form, and pale green- 

 ish greyish Nile blue in color. The set of three measure 28 x 38; 28.25 

 x 38 and 28.25 x 37 mm. 



