90 Zoologica: N. Y. Zoological Society. [I; 3 



line. A second entrance apparently well worn by the passage 

 of the serpent's body was higher up, above the water, and only 

 three feet beneath the nest of the jacamar. Elsewhere the bank 

 was pitted with the smaller holes of crabs. 



These jacamars had three types of notes; the call-note was 

 a series of sharp peeps like a young chick, while the alarm note 

 was a single soft cluck. The song was a field sparrow's tempo 

 set to the peeps of a newly hatched chick; slow at first and ac- 

 cellerating until the series ended in a rolling blurr of sound — all, 

 however, in a monotone, never a frill. 



They are indefatigable fly-catchers, sitting motionless on a 

 branch until an insect passes when they launch out after it like 

 a flash, much more kingfisher than flycatcher like. This pair of 

 birds was feeding altogether on small dragon-flies and other 

 Odonata, swallowing wings and all. 



The nest in this instance was a slightly descending cylin- 

 drical tunnel If inches in diameter, showing no external hint of 

 its occupancy. It differed from the numerous fiddler crab holes 

 all about only in being slightly larger. The tunnel was ten 

 inches long and ended in a chamber as big as one's fist. The 

 nesting material consisted only of a thin layer of the harder 

 parts of the small insects — elytra, legs and chitinized body seg- 

 ments, among which were a number of active fly larvae. There 

 were four, glossy white eggs, almost round, and remarkably 

 uniform in size. Three measure 22 x 18 mm. and the fourth 

 23 X 18 mm. The embryos were about three-quarters grown. 



On April 9th we saw a pair of rufous-tailed jacamars 

 perched in a bush near La Brea, singing. 



Bucco bicinctus (Gould) . Double-banded Puff-bird. 



A pair of these birds were perched close together high up in 

 a tree near La Brea on April 9th. As they sat all hunched up 

 they resembled diminutive laughing kingfishers. No note was 

 heard but now and then one sallied forth after an insect and re- 

 turned to its perch. The male which I secured had a number of 

 small beetles in its stomach. 



A peculiar characteristic of this bird is the bifurcated tip 

 of the upper mandible, between the points of which the upturned 

 point of the lower mandible is inserted. Thus the front view of 

 the bird shows three sharp, curved points. This specimen shows 

 three complete bands of black across the breast instead of two 

 each posterior one successively narrower. 



