1909] Beebe: Birds of Northeastern Venezuela. 81 



Leucopternis alhicollis (Lath.). White-headed Chimachima 



Hawk. 



On April 9th I first saw one of these splendid birds perched 

 in a dead tree at La Brea and every day after that I saw it fre- 

 quently. It was absurdly tame, allowing us to go under the tree 

 on which it sat, and not troubling to sail slowly to a neighboring 

 palm until one threw a stick at it. It appeared to be hatching 

 the ground closely but we could not discover its prey (Fig. 25). 



The head, neck, underparts and tail were pure white, so it 

 was altogether a very beautiful and conspicuous bird, and most 

 interesting because of its utter lack of fear. 



Elanoides forficatus (Linn.). Swallow-tailed Kite. 



These graceful birds were not uncommon, swooping and 

 soaring above the caiios. On April 1st three kites swooped past 

 my canoe on the Rio Guarapiche, repeatedly dashing down to the 

 surface and scooping up a beakful of water before they rose 

 again. I secured a male, and found it had just feasted upon 

 several small species of beetles. On April 11th a pair of these 

 birds passed slowly over the lake of La Brea. 



Order STRIGIFORMES. 



Glaucidium hrasilianum phalaenoides (Daud.). Southern 



Pygmy Owl. 



When we stepped out of the door of our house at Guanoco on 

 April 4th, the first morning of our stay, we found one of these 

 little owls perched in a pomerosa tree before us, with a half- 

 eaten female euphonia tanager in its talons. When excited and 

 nervous the tail is raised high, wren-like, and is then jerked at 

 intervals, up, down and sideways. 



I secured this bird, which proved to be a male in full breed- 

 ing condition. In the stomach was the head of the unfortunate 

 tanager, together with two small beetles. 



We found the pygmy owls very numerous and both diurnal 

 and nocturnal in their habits. In the glaring heat of mid-day 

 and late at night their voices were equally in evidence. Their 

 call is a series of ten to sixty whistled coos, given about three to 

 the second in a monotone of the second E above middle G, or 

 thereabouts. Whip-poor-will-like, the bird sometimes becomes 

 excited, and hurries its utterances until they almost run to- 

 gether. 



