STURNID.E. 227 



inches wide. Tlie male and female jointly manufac- 

 ture tliis gigantic structure by interlacing or knitting 

 together shreds of the bark of a species of aloe named 

 Caraquata , small rushes, and the fibres of a para- 

 sitical plant called Tallandsia usneoldes, or Old 

 man's heard. The bottom is lined with a thick layer 

 of large dry leaves plucked from the tree itself. In 

 this rocking-cradle the female lays three eggs, and 

 feeds her young with worms till they have attained 

 maturity, when they prefer to live on oranges and 

 pine-apples. 



The best-known members of the group are — 



The Cassicans* {Cassicus), so called from the inge- 

 nuity with which they construct their pensile nests, 

 crowding them together in such numbers as to form 

 quite a feature in the landscape. Upon one tree, 

 standing in the middle of a lake, and not more than 

 ten feet high, forty-five of these nests have been 

 counted, some depending one from another, and 

 completely concealing all the upper branches except 

 a few of the outermost leaves : at a distance, the 

 whole resembled an immense basket. Often in such 

 situations large trees are seen with hundreds of these 

 nests hanging from their boughs, and swaying in 

 the wind. " The Cassican,^^ says Mr. Waterton, 

 " in size is larger than a Starling, and courts the 

 society of man, but disdains to Uve by his labours. 

 When hungry, he repairs to a neighbouring forest, 

 and there partakes of fruit and seeds ; when his 

 repast is over, he returns to man, and pays the little 

 tribute that he owes him for protection ; he takes 

 his station on a tree close to his house, and there, 

 for hours together, pours forth a succession of imi- 

 tative notes. His own song is sweet, but very short. 

 If a Toucan be yelping in the neighbourhood, he 

 drops his own notes and imitates him. Then he will 

 amuse his protector with the cries of the different 



* Kaaaino, cassuo, to sew together ; So called because they form 

 their nests of interwoven vegetable fibres. 



