CHERRIE: ORNITHOLOGY OF THE ORINOCO REGION. 237 
Only observed on the upper river where specimens were collected 
at Maipures and Nericagua from December to March. Klages and 
Andre sent specimens to the Tring Museum from the Caura River. 
Rhynchocyclus flaviventris flaviventris (Wied). 
M[uscipeta] flaviventris Wied, Beitr. Naturg. Bras. III. 1831. p. 929. 
Rhynchocyclus flaviventer (nee. Spixj Berlepsch & Hartert, p. 46. 
Common, frequenting the edges of heavy timber land and the 
larger, denser areas of woodland that here and there dot the savan- 
nas. 
In life the eye is drab brown ; bill black above, pale flesh color below : 
feet slate color. 
The nesting season in the middle Orinoco region extends from 
the last of April to the end of July. The nest is suspended from the 
extreme tip of some slender branch hanging from the limb of a tree or 
low bush, occasionally hanging within 15.24 cm. of the ground and 
rarely over 1.52 m. up. A nest taken at Caicara, June loth, was sus- 
pended at the extreme tip of a slenaer twig, about 1.52 m. up and 
hanging directly over a forest path that was much frequented by cat- 
tle. It is pouch-shaped, or perhaps better described as retort shaped, 
(especially the interior cavity), about 20 cm. in length and 8 or 9 
cm. in diameter at the bottom or bulbous portion. It is sus- 
pended by being tightly tied about the tip of the ^upporting twig. 
The entrance, which is from below, is a tube about 6 cm. in 
diameter, which hangs 10 cm. below the bottom of the nest propei. 
The materials used are soft, fine dry grasses and vegetable fibres ; the 
whole neat and trim in appearance. A nest taken May 5th is less 
trim in appearance and the entrance tube hangs about 20 cm. below 
the bottom of the nest and is carried out at an angle of 30° from the 
perpendicular. Also on the opposite side of the nest from the en- 
trance tube there hangs a bunch of dead grass making the outlines of 
the hanging nest that of an inverted V with the apex solid. 
The eggs, two or three (usually the latter number) constituting 
a set, vary in form from o\-ate to short ovate. In color they are 
creamy white speckled about the larger end with rufous brown spots 
and dots and some graxish or lavender underlying spots. A dozen 
eggs representing six sets average 19.9x13.5 mm. The smallest is 
18.25 X 13-25 mm. and the largest 21 x 14.2 mm. 
