CASSIQUES. 



iutei-ioi- it is much less common, and I oflen went 

 several days without seeing one. The Brazilians call 

 it ' Sheshou,' and keep it often in cages." 



Dr. Goeldi, describing a visit to South Guyana [The 

 Ibis, 1897, pa^e 152), says:— "A shrub laden with half 

 .1 dozen hanging bag-nests, only a few steps distant, 

 from our steamer, was the animated place of exercise 

 I'.ir a colony of Cai^sicus persicua. They were also 

 breeding at this time. I got several eggs from the 

 iiest.s, and among them some slightly different in colour 

 and shaive, whitii evidently belonged to another species, 

 with Cuckoo-like habits." 



Mr. W. L. S. Loat says {Tlie J bis, 1898, p. 561) : — 

 "■ On the Liimaha Canal we found both the nests of the 

 .Scarlet-backed iMocking-bird (Ccissiciis aMnis] and of 

 I'assicus pcrsicus. The two species had chosen two 

 large bushes close to the water's edge, and about 

 twenty yaixls apart, in which their nests were built. 

 One bough contained three or four nests, all woven close 

 together." 



-Mr. W. Goodfellow, in his account of a journey 

 through Colombia and Ecuador [The Ibis, 1901, p. 447)", 

 says: — "A series from the Upper Xaix), East Ecuador. 

 They were nesting there in Jlay and June, and on one 

 tree I counted si.xty-tHO of their hanging nests. They 

 prefer tall trees standing well out in the clearings, or 

 those on the edge that rise above the general forest 

 level. Each of the nest-; that I took contained five 

 young, which varied considerably in size. Even before 

 these are Hedged they run up the inside of the nests 

 to be fed at the openmg at the top, and before they 

 can Uy thev sit about on the outside, but rapidly vanish 

 inside at the sight of a Hawk or any other large bird. 

 In the young the black parts are of a rusty colour, with 

 a strong 3'ellowish hue about the lower part o! the 

 breast and thighs, which gives them an almost olive- 

 green appearance. The hills of the adult birds are 

 pale lemon-yellow (not ' white,' as stated in the British 

 -Vluseum Catalogue), and the iris is pale blue ; but in 

 the young the bill is grey, witli a yellow tinge at the 

 tip, and the iris is dark grey. The Ecuadorians call 

 them ■ Culembras,' but the Napo Indians called them 

 ■ Chaupi mangas.' " 



According to Burmeister, the nest is formed of stalks 

 and plant-hbres, is purse-shaped, and suspended from 

 tall trees ; the eggs are bluish-white, dotted with brown, 

 and are somewhat globular in shape. Russ says that it 

 appears rarely and singly in tlie trade. It reached the 

 London Zoological Gardens in 1864. those of Amster- 

 dam in 1865. Later, E. von Schlechtendal secured 

 three males, and since then it has always appeared at, 

 the larger exhibitions and in the collections of certain 

 aviculturists. Mr. Schlechtendal, not being able to 

 obtain females, turned one of his Oassiques into the 

 room with his African and Indian Starlings, and it 

 drove them here and there in the wildest terror, and 

 -so knocked them about that he was obliged to remove 

 it again to a cage. He was also obliged to keep 

 all three examples separately. Russ says that in 1894 

 thi.s species built nests in the Berlin Zoological Gardens. 



Rkd-rvmi'ED C.A.SSIQUE {Cussicus hcemorrhous). 

 Smoky blue-black ; rump scarlet ; biU gi'eenisli white ; 

 feet black. Female smaller and greyer, brown where 

 the male is blue-black, the scarlet on the lower back 

 i-estricted ; bill shorter. Hab., S. E. Brazil. 

 - Burmeister says ("Systematische Uebersicht," Part 

 "III., p. 275) : — " One of the most- abundant birds in the 

 whole of tropical Brazil, ©si)ecially in. winter (ilay to 

 ■July), where it is fond of coming into the gardens to 

 seek the ripening oranges ; it nests on isolated, lofty 



trt^s, often standing apart in the road or in front ot 

 detached houses, where the nests, which are over 2ft. 

 in length, resembling a .s.hot-bag in outline, and loosely 

 woven of all kinds of dry stalkis and strips of grass, arc 

 much ill evidence. The entrance-hole is slightly below 

 the middle in the form of an oviil opening without 

 passage, through which the bird slips inside ; one can 

 see the brooding bird through the nost and recognise 

 remarkably well its red rump. The eggs are as large 

 as those of the Yellow Thrush, bluish-white, sparely 

 spotted with violet, and rarely to be found in greater 

 numbers than two. The note of the bird is loud, pierc- 

 mg, somewhat clearer than that of the Jackdaw, and 

 where several of them are together one always hears 

 them crying to one another in many tones; when alone 

 the bird is quiet, and feeds in the tree-tops without 

 betraying itself." * 



Russ says this is commoner than the other species in 

 the trade, and therefore it can always be found both in 

 zoological gardens and in the Ijands of large collector.^ 

 and aviculturists. It first reached the London Zoological 

 Gardens in 1873. those of Amsterdam in 1884 ; Schlech- 

 tendal had a sijecimen in 1877. Since 1890 Mise Hagen- 

 beck and A. Fockelmann have imported a good many. 

 In 1892 Russ secured a i)air and turned them into his 

 bird-room, where, t-o hie sui-prise, they proved in no 

 wav malicious, but behaved most peaceably and harm- 

 lessly towards even the smallest birds, including Wax- 

 bills and Grassfinchee ; but no sooner had they com- 

 pletely settled down and got used to their surroundings 

 than they began to peck and chase the small biixls, 

 seizing them by a leg, etc., and so they had to be re- 

 move3. 



CKKSTiiD Cassique {Ostino2JS dccumaniis). 



Black, with chocolate rump and anal tuft ; two cen- 

 tral tail-feathers black, the rest yellow ; bill yeUowish- 

 white ; feet black ; irides pale blue. Female smaller, 

 the chocolate of lower back and rump paler ; bill much 

 .shorter ioid less powerful. Hab., Chiriqui, Panama, and 

 South Ajnerica to South Brazil and Bolivia. 



According to Burmeister (" iSystematische Ueber- 

 sicht," Part III., p. 276), this species "keeps in the 

 vicinity of large forests and farther from hmnau dwell- 

 ings than the jireoeding bird. Its behaviour is wiser, 

 more cautious, yet for the most part like that of the 

 aforementioned. It nidificates in large, purse-shaped, 

 loose-hanging nests, and lays two eggs, whitisJi spotted 

 with violet, ornamented between the spots with blackish 

 streaks. I met with the bii-d at the Organ Mountains, 

 where it generally appeared in small parties high in the 

 air above the forest, and was recognisable at once by 

 its yellow tail. Later I had the chance during my 

 visit to the Puns tsee my expedition, p. 261) to see a 

 gr-eat tree standing alone which was hung iMth the nests 

 of the bird. Here, as also at Lagoa Santa, specimens 

 were obtained. It is. especially with the Indianpopu- 

 lation. a favourite article of diet. Its food consists ot 

 insects of all kinds and ripe tree-fniits, for preference 

 guava.s and oranges." 



"This species reached the London Zoological Gardens 

 in 1873, 1876. and 1877; and, according to Russ, that 

 is all we know about its life in captivity. 



• Eugt^ne Andre (" A Xaturaliit in tbe Guianaa." pp. 220. 

 ■221) is.i.vs: "It is a curious fact ttiat these birds almost olways 

 hang their nests in close proximity to the hives of the mara- 

 bunta. There must be some understanding between the birds 

 and these teiTible insects, otherwise how can we account for 

 hives and nasts being sometimes so close together that the 

 birds, in the frequent visitB they ma-ko to their nests while 

 feeding their young, have to brush iJast the marabunta hives ? 

 Thero is. moreover, a good deal of resemblance between the 

 nests and the hives." 



