830 The Sparrow-like Birds 



the males merely accompanying them back and forth on these occasions. A 

 dead tree standing in the open, containing a hornets' nest, had been selected 

 by the birds, and about fifty nests were suspended from the extremities of the 

 branches. These were nearly finished and various nests on the ground, testified 

 to the overburdening of some of the smaller branches. I did not hear any 

 song, but the birds kept up a low chuckling note as they flew to and from the 

 tree." These pendent nests, sometimes over three feet in length, are indeed 

 very conspicuous objects. 



The Caciques are smaller birds than the last, with a plumage of mixed black 

 and scarlet, orange-red, or yellow, or in some plain black. They are without 

 the frontal shield of the Oropendolas, but some of them have the head con- 

 spicuously crested. The Mexican Cacique (Cassiculus melanictems} of western 

 Mexico is black and lemon-yellow in color, and builds a wonderful pensile nest 

 sometimes three or four feet in length. These are attached to the slender branches 

 of mimosa, acacia, and other trees, sometimes as many as half a dozen in the 

 same tree, and are moved by the slightest breath of air. They are made of 

 long, coarse, tough grass, narrow strips of palm leaf, and often bits of twine 

 and thread. The eggs are four or five, white and marked like Orioles' eggs. 



The Slender-billed Cacique (Cacicus microrhynchus) of Central America 

 a bird in which the uniform deep black is set off by a large triangular patch 

 of flame-scarlet on the rump is said by Richmond to be gregarious at all times 

 except during the breeding season. They select tall forest trees in which to 

 place the nest. 



THE SWALLOW-TANAGERS 



(Family Procniatidce). 



This unimportant family is represented by a single species, ^ the so-called 

 Swallow-Tanager (Procnias tersa) of the Brazilian and Amazonian provinces 

 and the northeastern portion of the Colombian province. It was formerly asso- 

 ciated with the Tanagers, but recent investigation of its anatomical structure 

 has disclosed the fact that it departs widely not only from the Tanagers but 

 from the majority of passerine birds, these differences being sufficient, in the 

 opinion of Lucas and Ridgway, to entitle it to family rank perhaps with closest 

 affinity to the Swallows. It is a small bird, six inches in length, mainly blue 

 in color, with the sides and flanks barred with black. It nests in holes and lays 

 four pure white eggs. 



THE PLUSH-CAPPED FINCHES 



(Family Catamblyrhynchidce) 



If it were not for the necessity of rendering the treatment of the passerine 

 birds complete, it would hardly be worth while to mention the present "family," 

 since it comprises but a single, little-known species, the so-called Plush- 



