FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



entitled "Queer Homes," in which he described the 

 breeding habits of this species: "A cabbage-paim 

 that I once saw was decorated in a most singular 

 manner with the nest of the Black Bunyah (Ostinops 

 decumanus). At the end of every arching frond was 

 attached a long purse-like nest, and the whole were 

 arranged as symmetrically as if placed there by human 

 hands. While speaking of the Bunyah it may be as 

 well to note that another hang-nest, the large Black 

 Rice-bird (Cassidix oryzivora), seems never to build 

 a home of her own, but contents herself with making 

 use of the deserted Bunyah nests in which to lay her 

 curiously-marked eggs." Dr. Goeldi, however, appears 

 to have first discovered the parasitic habit of this 

 species. In his " Aves do Brazil," p. 284, he says : 

 "The 'Meiro,' as it is called in the Serra dos Orgaos, 

 introduces its eggs into the nests of other birds, and 

 does not incubate itself." Moreover, in December, 

 1892, a nest and two young birds were brought to him 

 as belonging to the " Japu " (Ostinops cristatus. He 

 remarked that one of the fledglings had no yellow in 

 the tail-feathers. As the birds grew older it became 

 manifest that one of the supposed " Japus " was a 

 young Cassidix oryzivora, while the other was that 

 of Ostinops cristatud. In an article in The Ibis for 

 1897 Dr. Goeldi gives further particulars respecting 

 this parasitic habit. On p. 364 he says : "When I 

 arrived in Para, I was surprised at being told that 

 the ' Graiina ' has the habit of laying its eggs in the 

 nest of the ' Japiim ' " ( = Cassicus persicu*). I had thus 

 an interesting confirmation of my own observations in 

 Rio de Janeiro, and have come to the conclusion that 

 Cassidix oryzivora is parasitic everywhere, choosing in 

 Xorth and South Brazil for its eggs the nests of the 

 n ! <i>frtive C'assicine species, the size of which agrees 

 !>'.<! with its own.* In " Timehri," Vol. XI., New 

 Series, Mr. Barshall says that this species deposits its 

 eggs in the nests of Cas&icus affinis and C. persicus. Mr. 

 W. Goodfellow (The Ibis, 1901, pp. 479-480) says : 

 " They were not met with at a higher altitude than about 

 3,000 feet. During the first week or two of our stay at 

 Santo Domingo we never saw one of them, then a 

 large influx took place, and many could be observed 

 all day and every day about the clearing, but never 

 within the forest. They frequented the banana- 

 plantations, and we often shot them while they were 

 eating the ripe fruit. We also frequently saw them 

 alone and in the company of Crotophaga ani, sitting on 

 the backs of the sleeping cattle or on the ground 

 around them. At both Santo Domingo and San 

 Nicolas they were called ' Garapateros ' (tick-eaters), 

 and Crotophaga ani was called ' Chamom.' 



"When whistling they expand the thick feathers on 

 the neck like a ruff. The females are much smaller, 

 and black without the purple gloss. Iris yellow, but 

 less bright in the young. I found grasshoppers in the 

 stomachs of three examples." In The Ibis for 1902, 

 ]). 210, he says : " In a wild state C. oryzivora does 

 not appear to be evilly disposed to smaller birds, which 

 is more than can be said of it in captivity." RUES 

 says that this bird is extraordinarily rare in the German 

 laird-market ; it reached the Amsterdam Zoological 

 Hardens in 1874, and Russ knew of a specimen in the 

 Berlin Gardens. Messrs. Russell Humphrys and 

 Reginald Phillipps have both had specimens, and the 

 latter gentleman gives a short account, describing the 

 apparent conceit of his bird, in The Avicultural 



* The egg*, according- to T. K. Salmon ("Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society," 1879, p. 510), arr white ; axis 1.45 and 

 iliumoter 1 15, It is likely enough, that the much smaller egg 

 belonged to the host. 



Magazine for M;trch, 1898, First Series, Vol. IV.. 

 p. 100. He gives the Dutch name Zwarte Kivispaal. 



MEXICAN CASSIQTJE (Cassiculus melanicterue), 



Glossy black ; lesser wing-coverts, rump, anal tuft, 

 and tail yellow, the latter, however, with the two 

 central feathers and outer edges of the others black ; 

 bill white, leaden-grey towards the base; feet blackish. 

 Female smaller, greyer, the yellow parts of the plumage 

 paler; bill smaller and weaker. Hab., Western 

 Mexico. 



C. W. Beebe ("Two Bird-lovers in Mexico," pp. 282, 

 283) observes: "The most abundant birds in this 

 locality were- the beautiful yellow-and-black Mexican 

 Caciques, great tropical Orioles, which are so charac- 

 teristic a feature of equatorial countries. As in the 

 virile warmth of Mexico many things are carried to an 

 extreme which in the North are developed but 

 moderately, so with the nest of the Orioles. Our 

 Baltimore* Oriole builds a long, shapely purse, deep- 

 cradled and elm-swung, where its eggs and young are 

 exposed to but few dangers. It is said that in the 

 south of the United States, owing to the increase of 

 heat, the nests are shallower, more vireo-like. Yet in 

 the tropical heat of Mexico the nests of the Orioles are 

 three and four feet in depth, hung from the tips of 

 branches, and waving in every breath of air. They 

 are finely woven of reeds, open-meshed, but tough and 

 difficult to tear. A small entrance at the top leads 

 down through the long, narrow neck to the globular 

 nest-chamber at the bottom. 



"The morning flight of these Calandrlas, as the 

 Mexicans call them, was one of the delights of our 

 camp life. Jet-black birds they were, long-crested, 

 with brilliant yellow shoulders, lower back and tail. 

 save the two inner feathers. The ivory-like beaks were 

 long and needle-like, such as a master weaver's should 

 be. They came from the northward, as if the bats of 

 the night before had been transformed by some witchery 

 of the morning sun, and were returning in this guiso. 

 Hundreds of the yellow-and-black forms flashed through 

 the trees, flock after flock of fifty or more, spreading 

 through all the woods in smaller companies to feed. A,s 

 they "passed, their wings made a strange, whip-like 

 humming sound, which rose to a continuous murmur 

 when a large number flew past at once." 



I have discovered no other field notes on this species. 

 It was added to the Zoological Society of London's 

 collection of living animals in 1865. 



YELLOW CASSIQTJE (Cassicus persicus). 



Glossy black; a large patch on the wing-coverts, 

 the lower back, anal tuft, and basal half of tail bright 

 vellow bill pale lemon-yellow ; feet back ; irid.es blue. 

 Female smaller, of a duller black above, and browner 

 below ; the yellow in the plumage paler ; bill much 

 smaller and weaker. Hab., South America from Colom- 

 bia to South Brazil and Bolivia. 



W A. Forbes (The Ibis, .'881, p. 33fc) says: 

 is one of the commonest and most characteristic I 

 of the country near the coaet, where it is very aba 

 dant, and may be seen commonly, even in the neic 

 bourhood of Recife, nearly everywhere where coc 

 palms grow. It usually gets about in small parties of 

 about four or five, which keep up, when perched, a 

 continuous chattering, often leading to their discovery 

 before beincr seen themselves. Towards evening they 

 seem to collet in larger parties, as at that time numbers 

 mic'ht often be seen returning homewards, always flfU 

 in the -same direction, and usually making. for a clump 

 of palms, on which no doubt to pass the night. In the 



