322 nEOOKLYN INSTITUTE Ml;SEUM. SCIENCE BULEETIN 2. 6. 
MoNASA NIGRA (Mullcr). 
Ciicii/iis iii(/cr Mull.. Syst. Nat. Supplement. 1776. p. 90. 
Monasa nigra Berlepsch & Hartert, p. 103. 
Native name Pico de Lacre. Not observed on the lower Orinoco, 
but common from near the mouth of the Meta and beyond. Also com- 
mon on the San Feliz River, near its junction with the Cuchivero River 
and recorded by Berlepsch and Hartert from points on the Caura River. 
In fresh birds the eye is hay brown; bill poppy red; feet slate grey. 
Birds of this species will frequently sit on low branches iive or 
six feet from tlie ground, stupidly watching one until they can be 
almost taken in the hand. They were only observed in heavily timljered 
districts. 
A female shot at Nericagua March 27th had an egg in the oviduct 
that would soon have been deposited. It was pure white in color. 
A nest, with young nearly able to shift for themselves, was found 
at La Cascabel on the San Feliz River, near its union with the Cuchi- 
vero River, on the 27th day of May, 1907. The nest proper was at 
the bottom of an excavation 1.5 m. in depth. It was situated in a belt 
of heavy timber, on level ground, bordering the San Feliz River. The 
excavation (whether made Ijy the puff-bird, or not. I am unable to say)' 
descended at an angle of about 45° from the horizontal and was about 
7.6 cm. in diameter. 
Over the e^itrance had been heaped a pile of rotten coarse dead 
twigs, as large as a half bushel measure, and having a rounded tunnel 
running along the ground from one edge to the entrance of the ground 
excavation. This pile of sticks forming a barrier to the real nest ent- 
rance was unquestionably of recent construction. 
The nest was discovered by hearing the cries of the young issuing 
from what seemed only a pile of brush. 
Birds in juvenal plumage resemble the adults except that the 
white patch on the bend of the wing is lacking, and the bill is a dusky 
dirty white. 
Chelidoptera tenebrosa tenebrosa (Pallas). 
Ciiculiis tcncbrosns Pallas, Neue. Nord. Beytr. III. 1782. p. 2. 
Chelidoptera tenebrosa Berlepsch & Hartert, p. 103. 
Eye seal brown; bill black; feet slate color. 
•There was no loose dirt about the entrance to indicate that the 
