388 BIUDS OF BRITISH GUIAN'A . 



Habits. Schoiriburgk writes of this bird (Reis. Guian.iii. p. 708) 

 as one of the smallest species in British Guiana. Its flight is un- 

 commonly swift. Its favourite haunts are the open spaces in the 

 woods and the native foot-paths, where it hovers over the flowering 

 bushes, vanishing all of a sudden and reappearing as quick as 

 lightning. He often found its nest, which was suspended between 

 two leaves of the tuga-branches, the points woven together l»y 

 the bird. The nest was built of plant-cotton only. It was fairly 

 deep, and contained two small white eggs or two young birds. 

 The female is similar to the male, but the black stripe on the 

 breast is absent. 



261. Phaetliornis episcopus. 

 Bishop Hermit. 



Phactliornis episcopv.s Gould, P. Z. S. 1857, p. 14 (Demerara) ; Bcehe, 



Our Search for a Wilderness, p. 307, 1910 (Aremu) ; Brabourno & 



Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 109, no. 1041, 1912. 

 Pygmornis longuemareus (nee Less.), Salvin, Ibis, 1885, p. 3-11 (Bartica 



Grove, Camacusa, Koraima). 

 Pygmoi'nis episcopus Salvin, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 284, 1892 



(Demerara). 



Adult male. Head, back, and upper wing-coverts bronze-green ; 

 flight-quills uniform brown ; upper tail-coverts rufous ; tail- 

 feathers similar to the back with a slight indication to white at 

 the tips ; a line above and behind the eye buffy-white ; ear- 

 coverts and a band across the breast blackish ; under surface 

 rufous. 



Total length 82 mm., culmen 24, wing 30, tail 27. 

 Adult female. Differs from the adult male in being paler 

 rufous below and in the almost entire absence of the black band 

 on the breast, the more rufous on the back, and the rufouf tijis 

 to the tail-feathers. 



The male and female described were collected by Mr. McConnell 

 on (he Lower Mazaruni River in 1898. 



breeding-season. Unknown in British Guiana. 



JS^est. Unrecorded in British Guiana. 



Eggs. Undescribed from British Guiana. 



Range in British Guiana. Ituribisi River, Lower Mazaruni 

 WiwQV (^McConnell collection^; Demerara (^Gould): Mount Roraima, 

 Kamakusa, Burtica ( U'/dtely). 



Extralimital Range. Venezuela. 



Habits. Unrecorded in British Guiana. 



