CASSIQUES. 



27 



interior it is much less common, and I often 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, page 152), says : "A shrub laden with half 

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

 from our steamer, was the animated place of exercise 

 for a colony of Cassicus persicus. They were also 

 breeding at this time. I got several eggs from the 

 nests, and among them some slightly different in colour 

 and shape, which evidently belonged to another species, 

 with Cuckoo-like habits." 



Mr. W. L. S. Loat says (The Ibis, 1898, p. 561) : 

 " On the Lamaha Canal we found both the nests of the 

 Scarlet-backed Mocking-bird (Cassicus affinis] and of 

 Ca**ic-us persicus. The two species had chosen two 

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

 twenty yards 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 Napo, East Ecuador. 

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

 tree I counted sixty-two 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 fledged they run up the inside of the nests 

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

 can fly they 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 yellowish hue about the lower part of the 

 breast and thighs, which gives them an almost olive- 

 green appearance. The bills of the adult birds are 

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

 Museum Catalogue), and the iris ie pale blue ; but in 

 the young the bill is grey, with 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-fibres, 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 

 appeal's rarely and singly in the 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 Cassiques 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 

 this species built nests in the Berlin Zoological Gardens. 



RED-RTJHVED CASSIQUE (Cassicus hcemorrhous}. 



Smoky blue-black ; rump scarlet ; bill greenish white ; 

 feet black. Female smaller and greyer, brown where 

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

 restricted; 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, especially in winter (May to 

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

 seek the ripening oranges ; it nests on isolated, lofty 



trees, often standing apart in the road or in. front ot 

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

 in length, resembling a shot-bag in outline, and loosely 

 woven of all kinds of dry stalks and strips of grass, are 

 much in evidence. The entrance-hole is slightly below 

 the middle in the form of an oval opening without 

 passage, through which the bird slips inside; one can 

 see the brooding bird through the nest 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- 

 ing, 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 hands of large collectors 

 and aviculturists. It first reached' the London Zoological 

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

 tendal had a specimen in 1877. Since 1890 Miss Hagen- 

 beck and A. Fockelmann have imported a good many. 

 In 1892 Russ secured a pair and turned them into his 

 bird-room, where, to his surprise, they proved in no 

 way malicious, but behaved most peaceably and harm- 

 lessly towards even the smallest birds, including Wax- 

 bills and Grassfinches ; but no sooner had they com- 

 pletely settled down and got used to their surroundings 

 than they began to peck and chase the small birds, 

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

 moved. 



CHESTED CASSIQUE (Ostinops decumanus). 



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

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

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

 the chocolate of lower back and rump paler ; bill much 

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

 South America to South Brazil and Bolivia. 



According to Burmeister (" Systematische Ueber- 

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

 vicinity of large forests and farther from human dwell- 

 ings than the preceding 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, whitish spotted 

 with violet, ornamented between the spots with blackish 

 streaks. I met with the bird 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 Puris (see my expedition, p. 261) to see a 

 great tree standing alone which was hung with the nests 

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

 were obtained. It is, especially with the Indian popu- 

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

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

 guavas 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. 



* Eugene- Andre (" A Naturalist in the Guianas," pp. 220, 

 221) says: "It ie a curious fa.ct that these birds almost always 

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

 bunta. There must be some understanding between, the birds 

 arid these terrible insects, otherwise how can we account for 

 hives and nests being sometimes so close together that the 

 birds, in the frequent visits' they make to 1 their nests iwhile 

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

 There is, moreover, a good deal of resemblance between the 

 nests and the hives." 



