564 EIRDS or BRITISH GUIANA. 



Adult female. Greneral colour o£ the upper parts drab-brown ; 

 under surface pale dusky-brown. 



Total length 170 mm., exposed culmen 15, wing 90, tail 65, 

 tarsus 25. 



The specimen de.scribed above was collected on the Abary River 

 in July 1906. 



The young male in its first plumage is similar to the adult 

 female but darker. 



Breeding-season. Unknown in British Gruiana. 



Nest. "These birds do not make nests of their own " (Quelcli). 



Eggs. " G-reyish white, thickly spotted with red-brown " {Lloyd 

 Price) . 



Range in British Guiana. Anarica River, Abary River [McCon- 

 nell collection^, Georgetown {Quelcli) ; Bartica (Beehe). 



Eatraliinital Range. Surinam {Penard), Tobago, Trinidad, 

 Northern Brazil. 



Habits. Schomburgk states (Reis. Guian. iii. p. 682) that he 

 met with this species in the plantations near the coast and also in 

 the cultivated fields. He often observed it nesting in the Cocos 

 and Coal Palms. 



Mr. J. J. Quelch (Timehri (2) v. p. 86) observed this species in 

 Georgetown, and remarks : — "Another very common member of 

 this group is the parasitic Lazy-bird {Molothrus atro-nitens), 

 whose cuckoo-like habits have already been referred to in con- 

 nection with the commonest of their small victims. They are 

 more commonly found on the outskirts of the town, where 

 the wrens suffer from their loose habits much more than in 

 the town proper. These birds do not make nests of- their own, 

 but deposit their eggs in the nests of smaller birds. It is a 

 curious feature in their natural history that the parasitic habits 

 of the Old World cuckoos should be found characteristic of 

 this genus of birds, while the American cuckoos have normal 

 nesting habits." 



The following note is quoted from Lloyd Price (Timehri (2) v. 

 p. 65) : — " In this nest {Xanthomus icterocephalus) , as well as in 

 the nest of the Silk Cotton and other small birds, will be some- 

 times found the egg of a specie.s of bird having the habits of the 

 Common Cuckoo, commonly called by the Creoles the Lazy-bird 

 (Malotlirus atronitens). The egg is greyish white, thickly spotted 

 with red-brown." 



