Some Colony Birds. 131 



developed and was unable to carry them away with me. There 

 arc no specimens or skins oi this bird in the Museum. 



The Great Rice-Bird. Allied to the Mocking-birds, 

 but more closely so the Lazy-bird, described in my last article, 

 is the Great Rice-Bird (Cassidix oryzivora), that is " the 

 great cassique rice-devourer." This bird is as large as an 

 English crow and as black; but it is more graceful in form 

 with its slim' body and dainty head. The beak is black, trim, 

 and conical; thq ma.xilla is rounded where it joins the skull, 

 but not so prominently so as in the yellow-backs, etc. The 

 eye is red. The sexeiJ are more or less alike. The male is 

 glossy purple-black; but lias not the satiny sheen of its dim- 

 inutive relative, the Lazy-bird, or, as it is knr)wn in scientific 

 circles, the Common Rice-Bird. The hen has the same cuckoo 

 habit of placing' lier eggs in the nest of another bird. The 

 egg is like that of our Lnglish Thrush, but twice the size. 

 A beautiful cock bird I had, was taken, by mistake, from 

 the nest of a Yellow-back and reared by hand. When it could 

 fend for itself, it m^ade its home among the domestic fowls. 

 It fed with them, fought with them, and after flying about all 

 day, would roost with them at night. It would cluck like a 

 hen and crow- like a cock^ and was so taken up with its novel 

 companions that it jnever more showed any affection for the 

 hand that had fed it in, callow youth. 1 kept it in a large 

 cage, but it never grew tame. , When, however, a fowl ap- 

 proached it would show an affectionate concern, clucking and 

 spreading out its feathers. As its specific name implies, it 

 feeds exclusively on grain, showing a preference for paddy 

 which it husks liko a finch I Mine had the ingenuity to open 

 the lid of its seed-box and thus save itself a good deal of 

 trouble. 



The Guiana Black-Bird. The Ciuian.i, or Demcrara 

 Black-bird ( Quiscalus lugul?n's) is the size of the bird so 

 named in England, and is as black, but otherwise has nothing 

 in common. It lias, in fact, all the liabits of a Starling. It 

 is glossy, dead-black, the only relieving colour being that (jf 

 the eye which is almost wliito and gives the bird a ghostly 

 look. As there are in the colony, at least ten other birds 

 eniiroly black, it is singularly misnamed. I piupuac to call 



