SOUTH AMERICA. 131 



he is larger than the starling ; he courts the 8ECOND 



JOURNEY. 



society of man, but disdains to live by his labours. - 

 When nature calls for support, he repairs to the 

 neighbouring forest, and there partakes of the 

 store of fruits and seeds, which she has produced 

 in abundance for her aerial tribes. When his 

 repast is over, he returns to man, and pays the 

 little tribute which he owes him for his protection ; 

 he takes his station on a tree close to his house ; 

 and there, for hours together, pours forth a suc- 

 cession of imitative notes. His own song is sweet, 

 but very short. If a toucan be yelping in the 

 neighbourhood, he drops it, and imitates him. 

 Then he will amuse his protector with the cries 

 of the different species of the woodpecker ; and 

 when the sheep bleat, he will distinctly answer 

 them. Then comes his own song again ; and 

 if a puppy dog, or a Guinea fowl interrupt him, 

 he takes them off admirably, and by his different 

 gestures during the time, you would conclude that 

 he enjoys the sport. 



The cassique is gregarious, and imitates any 

 sound he hears with such exactness, that he goes 

 by no other name than that of mocking bird 

 amongst the colonists. 



At breeding time, a number of these pretty 

 choristers resort to a tree near the planter's 

 house, and from its outside branches weave their 

 pendulous nests. So conscious do they seem that 

 they never give offence, and so little suspicious 



K2 



