1909] Beebe: Birds of Northeastern Venezuela. 71 



The varied bird, reptilian and insect life of the South Amer- 

 ican continent becomes bewildering as soon as the mangroves are 

 left behind. Among the birds, cassiques, hummingbirds, toucans 

 and tanagers predominate; large tegus crawl along the water's » 

 edge, and myriads of lesser lizards swarm in the underbrush. 

 The fish in the pools at La Brea are interesting from their 

 varied forms; among others we observed the common Hoplias 

 malaharicus, several species of Aequidens and Callicthys. 



At this season Hymenoptera, especially ants and wasps, 

 were more abundant than other insects, but heliconias, dragon 

 flies, cicadas and large brush-legged Hemiptera were also com- 

 mon. Large banded Mollusks (Ampullaria glauca and A. corme- 

 arietis) breed in the forest pools, and mosquitoes were almost 

 absent. Tarantulas, scorpions and centipedes, while abundant, 

 were never troublesome. A single specimen of Peripatus was 

 found associated with scorpions in rotten wood. 



Part IV. — List op Birds Observed in Northeastern 

 Venezuela 



From March 25th to April 14th, 1908. 



Order TINAMIFORMES. 



Tinamus tao Temm. Great Blue Tinamou. 



The conventional remark concerning this tinamou which one 

 finds repeated in many volumes — in English, Spanish, Portu- 

 guese, German and Dutch, — as originally given in the British 

 Museum Catalogue, Vol. XXVII, page 499, is as follows: "This 

 large species is easily distinguished by the dark olive-slaty tinge 

 of its plumage." In fact, little more seems to be known con- 

 cerning the bird. 



It is apparently of wide distribution, recent authorities dif- 

 fering on the limits of its range as follows : 



Venezuela, Colombia, Amazonia, Peru (Sharpe's "Handlist," 

 Vol. I, p. 8). 



Matto Grosso, Borba, Para, Amazonia, Bolivia, Peru, Colom- 

 bia, Guyana, Venezuela (von Ihering's "As Aves do Brazil," p. 

 4). 



The first news we had of this bird was at the village of 

 Guanoco, where some of the natives and Indians recognized a 

 painting I showed them, calling it "gallina del monte con los 

 huavos azules," which at once identified it. 



We found that the tinamou inhabited dense jungle, espe- 

 cially on the slopes of rather steep hill-sides, and in such places 



