2'S2 BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



axillaries and lower flank-feathers ; outer under Ming-coverts 

 brown edged with white. 



Total length 570 mm., ciilmen (including the cere) 37. wing 

 485, tail 215, tarsus 55, middle toe and claw 72. 



The bird described was collected on the Barima River. 



Breeding-season. Unknown in British Guiana. 



Nest. Unrecorded in British Guiana, 



Eggs. Undescribed from British Guiana. 



Range in British Guiana. Barima River, Abary River 

 (McCo)inell collection) ; Waini River {Beehe). 



E.rfralimital Range. Venezuela, Antilles. Central and Xorth 

 America. 



Habits. Mr. J. J. Quclch remarks on this species as follows 

 (Timehri (2) vi. p. IGl) : — '"The Common Osprey (Pandion 

 haliat-'tus), which is known commonly here by the name 'Fish- 

 Hawk.' They are said to be common all along the low and water 

 savannahs of the coast, but I have met with them only along the 

 Abary Creek, where, especially in the wet season when the country 

 is flooded 1)V some three or four feet of water, these Hawks are 

 met with all over the district, sailing along with rapid flight, or 

 hovering, almost quite stationary, for a moment, and then darting, 

 as though shot downwards into the water, to seize some fish that 

 they have espied. Comparatively large fishes are thus seized 

 by the birds, which seldom, if ever, miss the prey at which they 

 have darted. I have never observed them perching in the day ; 

 but one was shot while perching at night on the top of a tall dead 

 branch that projected high up in the air, immediately over the 

 rough benab in which we had camped on Tiger Island, along 

 the Abary Creek. The Osprey ranges nearly all over the world, 

 but this is the first direct record of its occurrence in British 

 Guiana.'' 



Order STRIGIFORMES. 



Family STRTGIDiE. 



The Owls are peculiar by their very full and soft plumage, their 

 large eyes, and facial discs. 



Thev are distributed in nearly all parts of the known world. 

 Twelve genera and forty-eight species occur in South America, 

 nine genera and ten species being represented in British Guiana. 



