426 BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



Range in British Guiana. Great Falls Demerara River (ilfcCon- 

 nell collection); Bartica ( H' /w'ie/^) ; Georgetown (QweZcA, Beebe)) 

 Hoorie Creek (^Beebe). 



Extralimital Range. Surinam {Penard}, Trinidad, Venezuela, 

 Colombia, North, Brazil. 



Habits. According to Schomburgk (Reis. Guian. iii. p. 678) 

 this bird is move commonly met with on the outskirts o£ woods 

 and plantations near the coast than inland. It is usually met 

 with in pairs, though solitary individuals are sometimes found 

 amongst roaming flocks. The nest is mnde o£ mosses lined with 

 plant-wool and placed in thickly foliaged bushes. The nest was 

 found in November. 



Mr. J. J. Quelch (Timehri (2) v. pp. 84, 85), who observed this 

 species in Georgetown, writes : — " Known as well by the name 

 grass-bird as by their special names of twa-twa and tawa-twa 

 slave {Oryzohorus crassirostris). The twa-twa is much prized 

 as a cage-bird, and about town they fetch high prices — their 

 whistling and chirping being very sweet and rich. They are 

 frequently seen on the outskirts of the city among the grass and 

 low bush of the open lands, where they feed on various seeds and 

 grains." 



Beebe (Our Search for a Wilderness, p. 142) writes : — " With 

 the sudden rush of light came the distant bubbling of Twa-twas, 

 those little thick-billed pygmy Grosbeaks." 



Genus PYRRHULAGRA Bonap. 



Pyrrhulagra Bonaparte, Consp. Av. i, p. 492, 1850. Type P. portori- 

 censis (Daud.), 



Fig. 162.: — Pyrrhulagra portoricensiSi 



The members of this genus are easily distinguished by the 

 almost black plumage of the males and the olive-biown and grey 

 females. The bill is stout and pointed, its depth at the nostrils is 



