MELANOPSAR. 579 



Adult male. Forehead, sides of face, back, wings, and tail black, 

 like the throat, breast, abdomen, sides of body, and long under 

 tail-coverts ; crown of head, nape encroaching on to the sides of 

 the neck, riimp, short upper tail-coverts, lesser and median 

 upper wing-coverts yellow like the thighs, short under tail- 

 coverts, axillaries, and under wing-coverts ; under-surface of quills 

 blackish brown, paler on the margins ; lower aspect of tail black. 



Total length 223 mm., exposed culmen 20, wing 109, tail 104, 

 tarsus 21. 



The specimen described was collected on the Snpenaam River, 

 1911. 



Adult female. Differs from the adult male in the absence of 

 yellow on the top of the head, rump, thighs, and short under-tail 

 coverts, all of which are replaced by black. Wing 105 mm. 



Immature male. Differs from the adult female in the absence of 

 yellow on the upper and under wing-coverts, which are black, and 

 in having the throat yellow and the crown of the head approaching 

 yellow. 



The female and young male specimens described were collected 

 in the Upper Takutu Mountains, 1908. 



Breeding-season. February, March, April, May, June (Beehe). 



Nest. Vide Beebe, infra. 



Eggs. Vide Beebe, infra. 



Range in British Guiana. Takutu Mountains, Ituribisi River, 

 Supenaam River, Bonasika River, Demerara River (^McConnell 

 collection^ ; Mount Roraima, Bariica ( Wldtely) ; Hoorie Creek, 

 Kalacoon (Beebe). 



Extralimital Range. North Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, 

 Ecuador, Peru. 



Habits. Schomburgk states (Reis. Guian. iii. p. 680) that this 

 species is distributed throughout the colony, but only up to an 

 altitude of 2000 feet. Its mode of life is similar to that of 

 /. xantliornus^ p. 576. The '* Warraus " call it JJomsanika and 

 the " Macusis " Waraura. 



The following notes Lave been copied from Beebe (Tropical Wild 

 Life in British Guiana, p. 243) : — " One of the first birds to greet 

 us at Kalacoon was the Moriche Oriole. These birds were un- 

 usual in their charm, for they were satisfying both to the eye and 

 ear. From dawn to the [)assing of the swift tropical twilight 

 their black forms, crowned and shouldered and booted with gold, 

 looped palm with palm, or glanced in the sunlight as they sped 



2i'2 



