114 BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



which seemed to be freshly broken. A safer or cosier place could 

 not be imagined. The crevice was eighteen inclies deep and only- 

 two inches wide, with the opening of the fold almost closed by a 

 small dangling bush rope. The nest itself was only two feet 

 above the ground. The eggs were pure white and were laid on 

 a thin network of rootlets and fibres resting on the black mould 

 which had collected in the crevice. The following day it took me 

 two hours of hard work, cutting and sawing, to reach the nest, 

 and when Milady spooned up nest and eggs, four good sized 

 scorpions came with them, unpleasant guests I should think ! 

 There wei"e two eggs in the nest and a broken one on the ground 

 outside which the parent had removed the night before. This 

 egg had probably been broken by the hurried flight of the parent 

 on the preceding day. The eggs were a broad oval in shape, dull 

 white, and both measured 20 by 16 mm. " 



Genus DENDROCINCLA Gray. 



Dendrocincla Gr^y, List Gen. Birds, p, 18, 1840. Type D. turcUna 

 (Licht.). 



The birds that constitute this genus are of medium size. The 

 bill is fairly long and somewhat slender, the exposed culmen 

 about equal in length to that of the tarsus. The wing is rounded, 

 the third, fourth, and fifth primaries longest, the second slightly 

 shorter than the sixth but longer than the seventh, and the first 

 about half the length of the wing. The tail is long and somewhat 

 stiffened, the shafts protruding beyond the webs of the feathers 

 at the tips. The two outer toes and claws about equal in length 

 and longer than the hind toe and claw. Coloration: male and 

 female similar. 



Key to tlie Species. 



A. Larger, wing more than 100 mm., tail more 



than 80, culmen more than 25 D.fuliginosa, p. 116. 



B. Smaller, wing less than 100 mm., tail less 



than 80, culmen less than 25 D. meriila, p. 116. 



