224 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



that led to a hole in the roof of the cave in which rested the 

 eggs. It was necessary for her to push through this open- 

 ing and to drop gently, with the utmost care, upon the eggs 

 below. The parent was then within a tiny cup of a room 

 whose walls were thickly lined with soft hair, backed by 

 fine shreds of jungle bark. 



The body of the nest was composed entirely of living 

 tree moss skillfully woven together to form a waterproof 

 mass. Scattered through this were a few small roots and 

 strips of bark to give stiffening to the structure. The inner 

 lining was composed entirely of this material, closely packed 

 together until it formed a soft and impenetrable mat. With- 

 in this was the lining of animal hair, thicker at the bottom, 

 upon which the two or three white eggs were deposited. The 

 whole nest was about 30 cm. high and 13 cm. wide at the 

 bottom. The entire interior room had a depth of 9 cm., but 

 the nest cup proper was only 5 cm. deep with a diameter 

 of 4 cm. 



When placed very low in the undergrowth the nest of 

 the oily flycatcher was very hard to find. It agreed so thor- 

 oughly with its surroundings in the dull jungle twilight that 

 one would pass it by again and again without noticing the 

 outlines against the dark green background, or, if seen, it 

 would be taken for an over-large, naturally drooping bunch 

 of moss. 



The first nest I discovered was hanging from a small 

 liana about 18 inches from the ground in a dark thicket. My 

 knee accidentally struck against it, but I would have passed 

 on without noticing if the mother bird, startled, had not 

 flown up, seemingly, from beneath my feet. I cautiously 

 moved back behind a conveniently thick bush not ten feet 

 away and waited for her to return. She did so in a very 

 few minutes and quickly disappeared into the hidden tunnel 

 of her home. A few quick steps, and with my hand over 

 the hole she was my prisoner. This occurred on the last day 

 of March. 



