564 RIRDS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



Adult female. General colour of the upper parts drab-brown ; 

 under surface pale duskj-brown. 



Total length 170 mm., exposed culmen 15, wing 90, tail 65, 

 tarsus 25. 



The specimen described above was collected on the Abary River 

 in July 1903. 



The young male in its first plumage is similar to the adult 

 female but darker. 



Breeding-season. Unknown in British Guiana. 



Nest. "These birds do not make nests of their own " (Quelch). 



Eggs. " Greyish white, thickly spotted with red-brown " {Llogd 

 Price) . 



Range in British Guiana. Anarica River, Abary River [McCon- 

 nell collection^', Georgetown {Quelch) ; Bartica (Beehe). 



E.xtralimital Range. Surinam [Penard), Tobago, Trinidad, 

 Northern Brazil. 



Habits. Schomburgk states (Reis. Guian. iii. p. 'od>2) tliat he 

 met with this species in the plantations near the coast and also in 

 the cultivated fields. He often observed it nesting in the Cocos 

 and Coal Palms. 



Mr. J. J. Quelch (Timehri (2) v. p. '86) observed this species in 

 Georgetown, and remarks: — "Another very common member of 

 this group is the parasitic Lazy-bird (^Mololhras atro-nitens), 

 whose cuckoo-like haliits have already been referi-ed to in con- 

 nection witli the commonest of their small victims. They are 

 more commonlv found on the outskirts of the town, where 

 the wrens suffer from their loose habits much more than in 

 the town proj-er. These birds do not make nests of their own, 

 but deposit their eggs in the nests of smaller birds. It is a 

 curious feature in their natural history that the p.irasitic habits 

 of the Old World cuckoos should be found characteristic of 

 this genus of birds, while the American cuckoos have normal 

 nesting habits." 



Tiie following note is quoted from Lloyd Price (Timehri (2) v. 

 p. 65): — "In this nest (^Xanthonius icterocephalus), as well as in 

 the nest of the Silk Cotton and other small birds, will be some- 

 times found the egg" of a species of bird having the habits of the 

 (.'ommon Cuckoo, commonly called by the Creoles the Lazy-bird 

 {Malothrus atronitens). The egg is greyish white, thickly spotted 

 with red- brown." 



