268 BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



■Extralimital Range. Cayenne [Linne), Trinidad, Venezuela, 

 Colombia, North Brazil, E. Peru. 



Habits. According to Schomburgk (E.eis. Guian. iii. p. 697) tbis 

 bird frequents the outskirts o£ the woods and is especially fond of 

 isolated trees in the cultivated fields close to the Indian settle- 

 ments. It is very partial to places where a forest fire has 

 occurred, where it prefers to sit on the dead trees, and is usually 

 met with in pairs. It nests in holes of trees made by Woi»d- 

 peckers. He never saw them on the ground nor in low bush. The 

 " Macusis " and " Arakunas " call it Owehma. 



The following note has been copied from Beebe (Our Search 

 for a Wilderness, p. 177) : — " Black-tailed Tityra . . . Strange 

 Frog-birds .... had begun to nest in a small dead stub standing 

 alone in the centre of the vegetable garden. The birds were 

 having a hard time of it, carrying stiff, four-inch twigs into a 

 three-inch hole, but they were succeeding, showing that they 

 knew better than to hold the twig by the centre. The whole head 

 to below the eyes and including the upper nape was black, while 

 the bare skin of the face and the basal two-thirds of the beak 

 were bright red. The male was uniformly pale bluish-white, 

 while his mate was distinguished by many rather faint streaks of 

 black on the breast, sides, and under parts. Both birds alternated 

 in carrying the nesting material and in arranging it ... , the 

 nesting stub was about six inches in diameter and the hole thirty 

 feet above the ground. 



" These birds lack the bright hues of most of their relatives, 

 but have the family trait of possessing some queer trick of 

 plumage. While the first flight-feather of the wing is perfectly 

 normal, measuring about three and a half inches in length, the 

 second is a mere parody of a feather, tapering to a point and 

 reaching a length of less than two inches. Only the true lover 

 of birds will realize what an effort it took to tear ourselves away 

 from this pair of birds, whose eggs and young appear to be as 

 yet undescribed.'^ 



