172 BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



through this were a few small roots and strips of bark to give 

 stiffening to the structure. The inner lining was composed entirely 

 of this material, closely packed together until it formed a soft 

 and impenetrable mat. Within this was the lining of animal hair, 

 thicker at the bottom, upon which the two or three white eggs 

 were deposited. The whole nest was about 30 cm. high and 13 cm, 

 wide at the bottom. The interior room had a depth of 9 cm,, but 

 the nest-cup proper was only 5 cm. deep with a diameter of 4 cm. 



" When placed very low in the undergrowth the nest of the Oily 

 Flycatcher was very hard to find. It agreed so thoroughly with its 

 surroundings in the dull jungle twilight that one would pass it by 

 again and again without noticing the outlines against the dark 

 green background, or, if seen, it would be taken for an over- 

 large, naturally drooping bunch of moss. 



" The first nest I discovered was hanging from a small liana about 

 18 inches from the ground iu a dark thicket. My knee accidentally 

 struck against it, but I would have passed on without noticing if 

 the mother bird, startled, had not flown up, seemingly, from 

 beneath my feet. I cautiously moved back behind a conveniently 

 thick bush not ten feet away and waited for her to return. She 

 did so in a very few minutes and quickly disappeared into the 

 bidden tunnel of her hpme. A few quick steps, and with my hand 

 over the hole, she was my prisoner. This occurred on the last day 

 of March. 



" There were three eggs in the nest, all of a dull glossless-white, 

 and rather pointed at the end. The shells were thin and had small 

 striations or corrugations running from the middle to the small 

 end. They measured 21 X 14-5, 21 X 15, '20 x 14-5 mm." 



463. Pipromorplia oleaginea roraimse. 

 EoKAiMA Oily Flycatcher. 



Mionectes oleaqineus (nee LicM.) Salvin, Ibis, 1885, p. 293 (part) (Mount 



Eoraima and Merume Mts. 3500 to 6000 ft.) ; Sclater, Cat. B. Brit. 



Mus. xiv. p. 112 (part) (Mt. Eoraima and Merume Mts.) ; Brabourne 



& Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 284, no. 2892, 1912. 

 Pipromorpha oleaginea roraimw Chubb, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 



(ser. 9) iv. p. 303, 1919. 



Adult male. Similar to P. o. macconnelli, but differs in being 

 rather smaller, paler on the upper parts, and more brightly coloured 

 on the abdomen, under tail-coverts, axillaries, and, under wing- 

 coverts. 



