THE SOCIABLE GROSBEAK. 315 



Attested facts Extraordinary nests. 



lerity, catch the ring before it touches the water, 

 and bring it up to his master with apparent ex- 

 ultation; and it is confidently asserted, that if a 

 house or any other place be shown to him once 

 or twice, he will carry a note thither immedi- 

 ately, on a proper signal being made. One in- 

 stance of his docility I can myself mention with 

 confidence, having often been an eye-witness of 

 it. The young Hindoo women at Benares, and 

 in other places, wear very thin plates of gold, 

 called ticas, slightly fixed, by way of ornament, 

 between their eye-brows; and when they pass 

 through the streets, it is not uncommon for the 

 youthful libertines, who amuse themselves with 

 training these birds, to give them a signal, which 

 they understand, and send them to pluck the 

 pieces of gold from the foreheads of their mis- 

 tresses, which they bring in triumph to the 

 lovers." 



THE SOCIABLE GROSBEAK 



INHABITS the interior country at the Cape 

 of Good Hope, and was first discovered there by 

 Mr. Paterson. Few species of birds live together 

 in such large societies, or have such an extraor- 

 dinary mode of nidification as these. They build 

 their nests in a kind of mimosa; which grows to 

 an uncommon size, and seems well suited to 

 them, on account of its ample head, and strong 

 '. '. 2 K 2 



