C A S S I C U S. 



other British birds. They have also been 'named 

 and described as Orioles, but they differ much more 

 from the orioles, properly so called, than they do 

 from the starlings, or even from the larks. The 

 orioles have a notch in the bill, and thus come under 

 the dentirostral division. But in truth, the presence 

 or the absence of this same notch gives us very little 

 information as to the feeding or the other habits of 

 the birds; for some of those which have not the 

 notch, are as insectivorous as those which have it; 

 and some which have it feed as much on vegetable 

 substances as some which have not. Thus there are, 

 in this part of the system, difficulties which we do 

 not appear to have, at present, any means of over- 

 coming ; and thus, as the arrangement of Cuvier is, 

 to a very considerable extent, structural, and as it is 

 simple, and serves as an index to the species, perhaps 

 the wiser plan is not to attempt breaking in upon it 

 by minor emendations. 



These birds have a large bill, of a perfectly conical 

 shape, very thick at the base, and remarkable pointed 

 at the tip. Their nostrils are small and round, placed 

 laterally in the bill near its base ; and the tornia or 

 cutting edges of the mandibles, form a broken or 

 angular line as in the bills of starlings. They are 

 all natives of America, inhabitants of the woods, or 

 rather of their margins. In their manners they very 

 much resemble starlings, assembling in flocks and 

 building their nests near to each other. Those nests 

 are often suspended from the extremities of branches 

 of trees, and constructed in a laborious and even 

 elegant manner. They live indiscriminately upon 

 insects and upon the seeds of plants. In search of the 

 latter, they commit very serious depredations on the 

 cultivated fields, in return for which they make less 

 amends than most races of similar habits, as the flesh 

 is of no value for food, being tough and bitter, like 

 that of the crow family ; and having at the same time 

 a disagreeable musty flavour. 



There are several divisions or sub-genera of them, 

 among which there are considerable varieties in co- 

 lour, size, and other external appearances ; but their 

 habits and more essential characters are all very 

 much alike. These divisions are, Cassicus, Icterus, 

 Xanthornus, Oxyrhinchus, and Dacnis; and of most 

 of these there are numerous species. 



CASSICUS. The distinguishing character of this 

 division is the upper mandible of the bill extended 

 upward ^.nd forward, so as to occasion a considerable 

 notch or blank in the plumage of that part. The 

 members of this division are also larger than those 

 of the others. The following are a few of the 

 species : 



Cassicus bifasciatus. This species, which is the 

 crested oriole of British ornithologists, has two reddish 

 bands on its black bill, from which it gets the name 

 of bifasciatus, or two- banded. The general colour 

 is black, but the long linear feathers of the crest, the 

 lower part of the back, the rump and the vent feathers 

 are chestnut ; and the two lateral feathers of the tail are 

 yellow. The colours of the female are not so bright 

 as those of the male. This is considerably the 

 largest of the tribe, though it varies considerably in 

 size in different districts. Its length is from eighteen 

 to twenty inches, and the extent of its wings from 

 twenty-seven to thirty. But though a large bird it 

 is of no value, as its flesh smells so rankly of musk as 

 to be very offensive. It is very generally distributed 

 over the lower and warm parts of South America, 



being found in Guiana, in Brazil, and Paraguay. 

 When this bird utters its cry, which is very varied 

 and singular, bearing some resemblance to the word 

 " yapou," which is its name in some parts of America ; 

 it is usually perched on an inclining branch, with its 

 body stretched out, its head lowered, its wings half 

 extended, and its whole frame in a state of apparent 

 excitement. In most places, these biids are met with 

 singly or in pairs, but in some instances a hundred 

 or more assemble in a flock, flying and working in 

 concert, keeping time with each other with each 

 stroke of their wings, and occasionally all halting at 

 the same time on the tops of trees to rest themselves. 

 In the time of nest-building and breeding, they follow 

 a law which is very general, and which might be 

 expected to be very general in those places of tro- 

 pfcal climates, where there is little difference of 

 seasons, and food can be obtained all the year round. 

 There is no particular breeding season, broods being 

 met with at all times of the year. They always breed 

 in trees, and construct hanging nests of rather a 

 curious description. They do not build in the thick 

 forests; for their ftod is obtained not from the tall 



C. bifasciatus. 



trees, but from the lower vegetation or the ground, 

 though they readily eat the fruit of several of the 

 passion-flower tribe, and other climbing plants. The 

 trees which they select are those in which enemies 

 to their young are least likely to be concealed, or to 

 which they appear to be least accessible. Trees 

 about thirty or forty feet in height, of a smooth stem, 

 before they put out any lateral branches, and of 

 which the lateral branches are long and apart from 

 each other at the extremities, are the favourites of 

 the birds. Appended to the branches of such a tree, 

 it is by no means uncommon to meet with from half 

 a dozen to a dozen of their nests dangling freely in 

 the air. The nest is about a yard in length, small at 

 the top, but increasing in size to about ten inches in 

 diameter at the bottom, where it terminates hemi- 

 spherically. Such a fabric requires no small labour. 

 It is the joint manufacture of the male and female, 

 who make the principal part of it of the fibres of a 

 species of aloe, which are very tough and firm ; and 

 with these they intermix small rushes and vegetable 

 fibres, until the structure is very firm, and not un- 



