248 AXIS, OR SAVANNAH BLACKBIRD. 



continuing to do so for three or four days, he showed by his 

 actions and voice that he was trying to make the young one 

 come out and follow him. So distressed did he appear, that 

 at last the kind-hearted naturalist set the prisoner at liberty, 

 when it flew off with its parent, who, with notes of exultation, 

 accompanied its flight to the woods. 



THE ANIS, OR SAVANNAH BLACKBIRD. 



The farmers of Mexico and the Southern States of America 

 whose fields are frequented by the anis, are much indebted to 

 that handsome and somewhat conspicuous bird. It is of a 

 black hue glossed with green, equalling a pigeon in size its 

 long tail adding to its apparent length. Its chief food con- 

 sists of grasshoppers, locusts, and small lizards, but it rids 

 cows of the ticks and other parasitic insects which fasten on 

 their backs, where they cannot be rubbed off. So conscious 

 are the cattle of the service thus rendered them, that they will 

 lie down to allow the blackbird to perform the operation at 

 its ease. It is even asserted that, should the cow neglect to 

 place herself in a suitable attitude, the blackbird will hop 

 about in front of her nose, and allow her no peace till she 

 does as required. 



Large flocks of these birds appear together, uttering deafen- 

 ing cries. When fired at, even though many of them are 

 killed, the survivors hover to a short distance, regardless of 

 the danger in which they are placed. They build remarkably 

 large nests ; sometimes, indeed, several pairs of birds build 

 one together much in the same way as do the sociable 

 weaver-birds of Africa where they live together on friendly 

 terms. 



It resembles another African bird in its habit of picking 



