78 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



Grande do Sul and San Paulo in Southern Brazil, wlience it 

 extends into Paraguay. Schomburgh records it from Guiana, 

 l)ut Sclater doubts much if it reaches so far north. It feeds 

 on oranges and other fruits and seeds. 



Clutch of two eggs taken 20th November 1887, measur- 

 ing respectively 1 by |-§- and |-^- by f^ inch. They are of 

 an elongated oval shape, greyish-white in colour, closely 

 freckled over with minute reddish-brown spots. 



The nest, which was suspended from the extremity of a 

 branch of a tree at a considerable height from the ground, 

 is a long purse-like structure of a black vegetable fibre 

 resembling horse hair, probably of some plant growing in the 

 neighbourhood, the total length of which is 34 inches. The 

 opening is placed about 18 inches from the upper end, from 

 which the passage to the nest proper descends about 9 inches 

 farther to the latter, which then opens up in the form of a 

 circular bag of 5 inches in diameter, and 4J inches in depth, 

 and in which the eggs are placed without lining. The nest 

 is woven entirely by the bill of the bird, and my collector 

 describes the observation of the process as most interesting, 

 the bird permitting a close approach without alarm. 



4. Aphohits chopi (VieilL). Chopi Boat-tail. Local name 

 Guirau {El Chopi. Azara). — The distribution of the Chopi 

 seems confined to the central part of South America, where 

 it inhabits Bolivia, the North-eastern part of the Argentine 

 Eepublic, most of Brazil, and all Paraguay, in which latter 

 it is quite common. A social species, it is generally found 

 in flocks like the Starling, so large as to blacken the trees 

 on which it alights. In Paraguay it is very destructive to 

 the maize fields and to gardens, which require to be watched 

 in consequence of its depredations. It is very sagacious, and 

 gives warning to other species of the approach of birds of 

 prey, which, although somewhat shy otherwise, it bullies with 

 impunity. It frequents courts and verandahs of houses, and 

 is often kept in captivity, being by no means an indifferent 

 songster. Its nest is usually placed in a hollow tree, hole 

 in a bank, crevice in a wall, or other similar situation, but is 

 sometimes found in a thick tree or bush. 



Clutch of five eggs taken on 10th November 1886 from 



