CHERRIE: ORNITHOLOGY OF THE ORINOCO REGION. I4I 
Native name Paraulata. Common everywhere on the savannas, 
frequenting the small clumps of trees and more open thickets. The 
habits are similar to those of our own mocking-bird, although it is 
perhaps less shy. Nests are frequently built in the immediate vicin- 
ity of the native ranch houses. 
At San Mateo de Caicara on Ma)- 22, 1905, three fresh eggs were 
taken from a nest, found in a small tree, about 1.5 m. from the ground. 
The tree stood alone, close to a house and the nest was in plain view 
from all sides. The eggs are marked with reddish brown spots, which 
in two of them were so thickly set as to nearly obscure the pale blu- 
ish green ground color. The third egg is rather sparsely spotted, 
except about the larger end, and the color of the spots is darker, while 
the ground is a richer bluish green. The eggs are ovate in form and 
measure 25.5x19.75; 26.2x19.75 'I'ld 25.5x19.5 mm. Four days 
elapsed after the completion of the nest before any eggs were laid, 
then one egg was deposited every twenty-four hours. 
A nest taken by the writer at Quiribana de Caicara. April 21, 
1898, was found in a low bush at the edge of the open savanna about 
91.5 cm. from the ground. It was constructed of coarse dry sticks 
lined with dry grasses and rootlets. The eggs taken with this nest 
measure "27x19.5; 25.6x19.5; and 25.6x19.8 mm.""^ 
Another nest found May 25, 1898, was in a dense clump of thorny 
bushes at the edge of the open sa\anna. This nest was only 61 cm. from 
the ground. 
At Caicara on the 6th da\- of May, 1907, a nest with three eggs 
was taken that was similarly placed to that of the last, only about 
61 cm. up in a thicket of thorny palm stems. Incubation had begun, 
and was much further advanced in one egg than in the other two. 
Tlie eggs measure 27.4x19.5; 27.5x20. and 27.75x19 mm. Com- 
pared with the set first described the markings are somewhat darker 
and in larger spots. In the smallest of the three eggs the markings 
are uniformly distributed over the entire surface and very thickly set. 
In the largest egg the markings are lightest in color, fewest in number 
and clustered most about the larger end. 
Eggs of the Colombia Mocking-bird are indistinguishable from 
those of either Plauesticus albiventer or P. gymnophthahmis. 
A male in juvenal plumage taken at Caicara, June 2, 1905, has a 
greyish eye and dusky bill and feet. It is smoke grey above, clear on 
'Berlepsch & Hanert. p. 3. 
