CHEKRIE: ORXITHOLOGY OF THE ORINOCO REGION. 323 
Not uncommon. Frequents open glades in forest regions or the 
less heavily wooded districts bordering open savannas. 
The nesting season continues from February to June. The nest 
is an excavation made by the birds themselves, sometimes in the bank 
of a stream, after the manner of our Bank Swallow, and again in level 
ground. 
A nest containing two slightly incubated eggs found at Munduapo 
River, Orinoco, on March 2nd, 1899 (No. 121 55 Coll. Geo, K. and Stella 
M. Cherrie) was situated in the gently sloping bank of the river about 
ten meters back from the water's edge and about two meters above its 
surface. The excavation went straight back from the entrance to the 
nest proper, sloping downward at an angle of 30° with the horizontal, 
and for a distance of 150 cm. from the entrance. The nest chamber 
was merely a slight enlargement of the end of the tunnel. There was 
no nesting material and the eggs lay on the bare sand. The bottom 
of the nest was 75 cm. from the surface. The parent bird was seen to 
come from the nest, and during my excavating of the two slightly 
glossy pure white eggs she remained sitting within easy range on the 
topmost branch of a tree on the shore. Not a note (that I heard) did 
she utter or show any special interest in the locality. 
A nest containing two eggs, with incubation far advanced was 
found at Caicara, May 6, 1905. The excavation for this nest was made 
in nearly level ground at the edge of the open savanna. The burrow 
extended straight backward and downward at an angle of about 30° 
with the surface. The nest chamber was about one meter from the 
entrance and 30 cm. below the surface. A small quantity of short bits 
of dead grass had been taken in as a nest lining. One of the eggs is 
short ovate in form, the other ovate. They measured 24 x 19 and 
26 X 19.5 cm. 
A rather remarkable thing about these nests, as in that of Moiiasa 
nigra, is that the dirt that is excavated is not seen about the mouth of 
the entrance tunnel. 
Near Caicara. on the 8th of May, 1907, I found two nests each with 
two young birds. Judging from the young found in these two nests, 
and from those found in other nests examined, I believe that ordinar- 
ilv one of the two young is born several days before the other. At birth 
the young are slate black in color, they are entirely naked (without a 
trace of natal down) and the eyes do not open until about the third or 
fourth day. When about half grown or a little less, the pin feathers 
