Birds. 



6715 



where, head downwards, he was probing a small Tillandsia. I see I 

 had not, when I last wrote, remarked that the tongue of this species 

 is pencilled ; it is horny and semitransparent at the tip, where it is 

 hollowed by raised edges, the tip split into two portions, each of which 

 terminates in two or three fimbriae. The raised edges are jimped 

 (to the lens), so as to leave little barbs pointing forwards ; protrudible 

 easily about a quarter of an inch beyond tips of mandibles ; hyoid 

 bones are slender, and not much longer than ordinary. You will 

 observe that all these parts are small ; indeed they escaped my obser- 

 vation. But it often reminded me of Certhiola and Tanagrella in 

 its mode of inserting the beak into the sheathing bases of the leaves 

 of the parasites it frequents. I found in the stomach fragments of 

 insects, beetles, Orthoptera and a good many tough, leathery, empty 

 cases, like those of grubs or eggs of insects, but no seeds of any kind. 

 It has a swift dashing flight from tree to tree, the reflections of plumage 

 often deceiving as to its colour. It is frequently difficult to shoot, 

 from the rapidity with which it dodges about these epiphytes. I found 

 a nest the other day, in the densest portion of the forest, attached to a 

 wild pine {JEchmea f) ; when these plants have attained some age the 

 terminal bud gradually leaves a long flattened stem of a foot or two 

 firmly fixed to the tree. The dead leaves of the plant sometimes col- 

 lect some of their in turn falling successors and leaves from surrounding 

 trees ; these gradually form a little bit of black mould, soon appro- 

 priated by Polypodiums and other pendant ferns. It was on a little 

 but very graceful tuft of these the nest was placed ; it was a simple 

 cup, not very deep. It is now in my possession, and 1 should describe 

 the whole to be composed of a thick interwoven mass of black fibres, 

 which, without having the two at hand for comparison, appear to me 

 precisely the same as those used by Icterus leucopteryx, only in this 

 case the mass is much thicker and denser, and the outer threads are 

 carried over so as to include bits of Lycopodiums, moss, &c, and the 

 threads within keep down similar materials for a soft bed. But nothing 

 could be more beautiful than the position of this artful structure on a 

 bracket of drooping ferns, the stiff, arching leaves of the wild pine 

 above sheltering it from the weather. The boys brought me young 

 birds of this species, taken with bird-lime and evidently having just 

 left the nest, a month ago. But in the male I shot the other day, the 

 organs were still swollen, so that I conclude the breeding-season is 

 not yet over, and I may light upon further information." 



