86 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



sists of two chambers, with the entrance usually underneath. 

 The nests are frequented all the year. Although not gene- 

 rally using other than the above-named materials, occasionally 

 they are not particular, as the following will show. Two 

 children of a native Peon having died were put in coffins, 

 and as is the strange custom amono- that race, were laid on 

 the ground at the foot of a tree in a wood. At the end of a 

 year the father went in company with a son of my collector 

 to place the bones in a small box for final interment. In 

 doing this he quite unconcernedly cut off some pieces of skin 

 and flesh which remained on the bones and cast them aside. 

 The boy happening to pass the same place some time after- 

 wards, found a parroquet's nest built in the tree above the 

 spot, to which he ascended, when to his horror he found the 

 birds had picked up the pieces of flesh and skin and incorpo- 

 rated them into the nest. He very speedily descended and 

 did not go that way again for many a day. 



36. Chrysoptihcs cristcctus (Viell.) — native name " Carpin- 

 tero." — This term, meaning " Carpenter," is applied both to 

 this species the red-headed woodpecker, and to the next. 

 The present one is distributed throughout Southern Brazil 

 and the States on the Kiver Plata. It is not very plentiful 

 at Tala, but is resident all the year. It goes in pairs, and 

 perches not unfrequently on the top of a bush or tree, but 

 their usual attitude is that of a woodpecker, and their food 

 is also similar to that of other members of the family, being 

 chiefly the insects they obtain on the trunks and branches of 

 trees. They are noisy, fly low without moving their wings, 

 and with an undulatory motion. 



Clutch of four eggs, taken 28th October 1880, from a hole 

 in a tree. Another, also of four eggs, taken 11th December 

 1881, from a hole in a wire fence post. These average in size 

 ItV ^ ^ inch, the largest measuring 1^ x ||- inch, the 

 smallest 1^% x |-§- inch. They are of an elongated oval 

 shape, are pure white in colour, and have the highly polished 

 surface common to the eggs of the family. 



The nest is formed in a tree and sometimes in a post. It 

 is excavated by the bird, and is generally nearly a foot in 

 depth ; the chips fall down inside and form the only lining. 



