282 BROOKLYN INSTITUTE MUSEUM. SCIENCE BULEETIN 2. 6. 
Myrmopagis' axillaris (Vieillot). 
Myniiotlicra axillaris Vieill., Nouv. Diet. XII. 1817. p. 113, 
Myrnwthcnda axillaris Berlepsch & Hartert, p. y^. 
Not observed on the Orinoco proper, l^ut recorded by Berlepsch 
and Hartert from Suapnre, Nicare and La Pricion on the Caura. 
Myrmopagis melaena (Sclater). 
Myriiiuthcntla chcrrici Berlepsch & Hartert. Novit. Zool. IX. 1902. p. JZ 
Myrmothcrula melaena Berlepsch & Hartert, p. 74. 
M[yrmopaf/is] melaena Ridgway Birds N. & M. Amer. V: 1911 : p. 67 
Crit. 
Common along the ujiper river from the neighborhood of the 
first falls. This species was found breeding at Maipures in January, 
and the nest and eggs then collected have been described by Berlepsch 
and Hartert (/. c), but as my observations made in the field are some- 
what fuller, I reproduce the following notes from my journal. 
The nest was situated about 2.13 m. above the ground in the 
midst of a thick tangle of overhanging bamboo branches, the bamboo 
thicket forming the undergrowth in the high, dense forest which 
borders the river in that region. Tlie outer walls of the nest were 
composed of old and broken bamboo leaves, that were very loosely 
held together, and that served admirably to conceal the nest which 
was suspended by black thread-like vegetable fibres between the forks 
of a delicate twig of bamboo. The nest lining consisted of fine, thread- 
like vegetable fibres or rootlets. 
The eggs are elliptical-ovate in form. W hen fresh the ground 
color was a delicate pinkish white, which after blowing became a 
dead white. They are dotted and covered with criss-cross, fine, short 
lines of heliotrope purple. The markings are heaviest at the point of 
greatest diameter and almost entirely absent about the smaller end. 
The nest was discovered two days before it was collected and on 
each visit the male parent bird was found brooding, and sat so 
closely that I could approach and almost put my hand on him before 
he would desert his post. \\ hen he would finally flush, it was to 
slip quietly away and conceal himself in the surrounding thicket. On 
one occasion I waited for over an hour for his return but was disap- 
pointed, and finally the female came slipping noiselessly along toward 
■Ridgvv.iy, Proc. Did. Soc. Wash. XXIT. 1909. p. 69. 
