608 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



just below the last of the foothills, where the land is quite level and the 

 forest heavy. Although arboreal in their habits they keep very close 

 to the ground, in the low bushes and among the roots of the palms, 

 etc., where they are continually hopping and clambering about. They 

 have a low sweet chirp, which is frequently uttered when the birds are 

 disturbed. They are almost invariably seen in small flocks, and usu- 

 ally in company with other small ant-thrushes and occasionally wrens. 

 I took a single nest of this species near Jimenez, May 9, 1905, con- 

 taining two partly incubated eggs. It was a cup-shaped structure, of 

 the vireo type, and hung in the crotch of a small bush, in the thick 

 forest about three feet from the ground. It was constructed almost 

 entirely of black and brown rootlets, lined with the same, and measured 

 about three and one half inches outside diameter, and two inches in 

 inside depth and diameter. The eggs are purplish cream-colored, 

 blotched, streaked, and scratched with purplish-chestnut. Measure- 

 ments : 20.3 X 14.8 and 22.5 X 15.5 mm. 



343. Myrmotherula melaena (Sclater). 



Formicivora melcena Sclater, P. Z. S., 1857, 130 (Bogota, Colombia). 



Myrmotherula melcena Sclater, P. Z. S., 1858, 237 (Bogota). — Lawrence, 

 Ann. Lye. N. Y., IX, 1868, 108 (Angostura and Pacuare [J. Carmiol]). — 

 Frantzius, Jour, fur Orn., 1869, 305 (Costa Rica). — Boucard, P. Z. S., 

 1878, 61 (San Carlos). — Zeledon, An. Mus. Nac. de C. R., I, 1887, 115 

 (Pacuare, Naranjo de Cartago, Las Trojas, Barranca). — Sclater, Cat. 

 Birds Brit Mus., XV, 1890, 239 (Angostura [Carmiol]). — Salvin and God- 

 man, Biol. Centr.-Am., Aves, II, 1892, 211 (Costa Rica to Peru and Upper 

 Amazon Valley; Costa Rican references). — Richmond, Proc. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., XVI, 1893, 501 (Rio Frio). 



Myrmotherula albigula Lawrence, Ann. Lye. N. Y., VIII, 1867, 131 (Angostura 

 [Carmiol]; 9 of M. melcena); IX, 1868, 108 (do.). 



Myrmotherula axillaris Carriker, Ann. Carnegie Mus., V, 1908, 8 (Rio Sicsola, 

 Costa Rica). 



U. S. Nat. Museum: Reventazon (Carranza), Jimenez (Alfaro and 



Cherrie). 

 Bangs Collection: La Vijagua, Carrillo, and La Junta (Underwood). 

 Carnegie Museum : Guapiles (Carriker & Crawford) ; Rio Sicsola, 



El Hogar (Carriker). Fourteen skins. 



This handsome little species is confined to the Caribbean lowlands 

 and lower slopes, from sea-level up to not more than 1,500 feet. 

 Zeledon records it from two points on the Pacific slope (Las Trojas 

 and Barranca; An. Mus. Nac. de C. R., I., 1887, 115), but no other 



