346 BIKDS OF BRITISH GUIAXA. 



rediHsli grey ; feet yellowish grey ; claws black : iiis dark 

 brown." 



Total length -115 mm., culmen 15, wing 192^ tail 110, tarsus 12, 

 niiddle toe and claw 30. 



Adult female. Differs from the adult male in having a broad band 

 of grey across the chest; the under tail-coverts, under wing-covert.s, 

 and axillaries deep chestnut like the abdomen. Wing 188 mm. 



We do not know the exact locality, in British Guiana, of the 

 birds described. 



Breedituj-season. Unrecorded in British (xuiaua. 



Sest, "In holes in the bank" (Lloiid Price) ; " it builds it^ nest 

 at the end of a long tunnel excavated in the steep banks on the 

 sides of the rivers" (Schomburrjk). 



Eggs. " The eggs are of a glossy white " (Lloijd Price). 



Range in British Guiana. Upper Takutu Mountains (McConnell 

 collection) ; Kamakusa, Merume Mountains, Kamarang River 

 (Whiteh/) ; Georgetown, Demerara liiver (Quelch) ; Barima 

 River, Hoorie River, Aremu River {Beehe). 



Extralimital Range. South America generally and Central 

 America from Panama to Mexico. 



Habits. Of this bird Schomburgk writes (Reis. Guian. iii. 

 p. 703) : — This is the largest of the Kingfishers found in British 

 Guiana. It haunts the borders of the rivers, where it sits on a 

 dead branch that projects over the water watching for prey in a 

 similar manner to that of the Common Kingfisher of Europe. 

 When sailing up the rivers we have driven this bird before us for 

 an hour at a time. It emits a loud call when taking flight, flies 

 for a short distance, and rests again on a projecting branch. When 

 tired it flew across the river and returned to its original perch. 

 It builds its nest at the end of a long tunnel excavated in the steep 

 banks on the sides of the rivers. On the Upper Essequebo River 

 he observed a large number of these tuimels. This bird lays two 

 eggs. The "Warraus" call it Ilajntataka and the " Macusis " 

 Sackaiaka. 



Mr. Lloyd Price, writing on the Xestsand Eggs of some Guiana 

 birds, remarks (Timehri [2) v. p. 06) : — " Several varieties of 

 Kingfisher, one a large handsome greyish-blue bird (Ceri/le ior- 

 qv.ata), dart up and down the numerous trenches and waterways, 

 and are plentiful in the small creeks ; the eggs, of a glossy white, 

 are laid in holes in the bank.'' 



3Jr. J. J. Quelch observed this species in Georgetown, and 



