THAMNOPHILUS. 13 



The bird from which the description is taken was collected on 

 the Makauria River. 



Adult female. General colour above bright rufous ; primary 

 and secondary quills brown on the inner webs and margined with 

 cinnamon ; crown of head somewhat darker than the back ; sides 

 oE face and nape brown with white, or buffy-white margins to the 

 feathers; chin and throat whitish, with dark shaft-lines and tinged 

 with buff; breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts orange-buff; 

 under wing-coverts and quill-lining cinnamon. Wing 75 mm. 



The description is taken from an example collected on the 

 Abary River in September 1906. 



Immature female. Differs from the adult in having dark obsolete 

 bars on the feathers of the back and dark subapical spots on the 

 upper wing-coverts, in the absence of the dark streaks on the 

 throat and sides of the face and the nuchal collar. 



Breeding-season. Unknown in British Guiana. 



Nest. Unrecorded in British Guiana. 



Eggs. Undescribed from British Guiana. 



Range in British Guiana. Takutu Mountains, Ituribisi Eiver, 

 Supenaam River, Bartica, Bonasika River, Makauria River, Abary 

 River (McConnell collection) ; Georgetown (Quelch). 



Extralimital Range. Northern Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, 

 Trinidad. 



Habits. Schomburgk's remarks on this species (Reis. Guian. iii. 

 p. 687) are as follows : — This is one of the commonest birds near 

 the coast. Its favourite haunts are the Avicennien bushes and the 

 damp virgin forest. It is a very lively and restless bird, always 

 moving about and creeping easily through the densest bush. The 

 male and female are always together. When it is excited it 

 always raises the feathers on the crown. The Warraus call it 

 " Dobenakuh," and the Macusis call it ^^ Kubarik." 



Mr. J. J. Quelch, writing on the birds observed at Georgetown 

 (Timehri (2) v. p. .93), remarks: — The large group of American 

 Bush-Shrikes and Ant-Thrushes which, as a rule, are confined to 

 the dense forest ; but there is one large and typical species that 

 occurs, and by no means sparsely, which is known as the Check- 

 bird [Thamnophilus doliatus). The Check-bird, like the members 

 of the family generally, has a strong hooked Shrike-like bill, with 

 which it can protect itself even against the birds of prey, which it 

 attacks and pursues with a loud harsh cry. It feeds upon insects 



