234 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



The whole structure was very compact and neatly put to- 

 gether, the leaf veins giving it a very strange appearance. 



The two fresh eggs were pure white with little gloss. 

 Their dimensions were 22 x 15.5 mm. 



The nest was found on July 5, at the height of the great 

 rainy season. I think it probable that they nest twice a year 

 as several newly vacated nests, apparently of this species, 

 were found during March. 



ORANGE-HEADED MANAKIN 



Pipra aureola aureola (Linn.) 



These charming little birds were abundant, and often 

 seen in the jungle, either in pairs or in company with small 

 flocks of other birds. But their life history as noted in our 

 records was as fragmentary as the brief glimpses we had of 

 them. Then came 'a series of lucky birds' nesting days and 

 we discovered four nests of the orange-headed manakins. 



The first was close to an animal trail in heavy reedy 

 second growth about a mile from Kalacoon. The nest was 

 in a small, slender-stemmed bush, only three feet from the 

 ground, in the fork of a branch. There were two eggs, and 

 as we did not get a chance to secure the female we disturbed 

 neither eggs nor nest. 



Three days later the bird left as we approached. Back- 

 ing off some distance we squatted and waited for her reap- 

 pearance. In five minutes she returned, settled on the nest, 

 caught sight of us, and flew up scolding harshly. She was 

 uniformly dark olive-green, with lighter throat, dark bill, 

 and bright red legs and feet. At this moment, without warn- 

 ing, a full-grown jaguar rushed us, growling, turning aside 

 when about eight feet away, only when we stood up and he 

 perceived that we were other than deer or whatever jungle 

 prey he had evidently expected. After the excitement had 

 passed, one of our number shot a bird from near the nest, 

 only to find that he had killed a helmeted flycatcher by mis- 



