:7« 



STARLINGS. 



sheep bleat he will distinctly answer them. Then comes his own song again ; 

 and if a puppy-dog or guinea-fowl interrupts him, he takes them off admirably, 

 and by his different gestures while doing so you would think that he enjoys 

 the sport ; indeed, he imitates any sound so exactly, that he goes by no other 

 name than that of the Mocking-bird among the colonists. At breeding-time 

 a number of these pretty choristers resort to a tree near the planter's house, 

 and from its outside branches weave their pendulous nests. So conscious do 



Fig. 94.— The Red-ru.mped C 



N {Cassicus Iia-titori-hoic:,). 



they seem that they never give offence, and so little suspicious are they of 

 receiving any injury from man, that they will choose a tree within forty yards 

 of his house, and occupy the branches so low down that he may peep into 

 their nests." 



The proportions of this bird are so fine that he may be said to be a model 

 of symmetry in ornithology. 



Others {Xa?ithoi-niis) are peculiar to the warmer parts both of North and 

 South America, including the West Indies. They are generally seen in search 

 of insects and caterpillars that infest fruit trees and prey upon the leaves, 

 blossoms, and young fruit of the lofty trees that grow in the primeval forests. 

 Their nest is often of a hemispherical shape, measuring externally three inches 

 in depth, while its internal cavity is scarcely two inches deep by two in diameter. 

 The exterior is woven with fibres or stalks of dried grass, and the inside is 

 usually composed of wool and other soft materials, upon which the female 

 deposits about four eggs. This nest is generally suspended from the branches 

 of fruit trees. 



The type of this sub-family is — 



The Red-rumped Cassican {Cassicus hcemorrhous). 



