Some Colony Birds. 277 
uttered as if the bird were saying ; “‘ Who’s there? Get away, get away, get 
away!” From a fancied resemblance to the French, it is often written: 
“ Qu’est-ce qu’il-dit ; but the bird does not pronounce the s. Spaniards assert 
that it says, ‘‘ Christofué!”’ On first sight I put it down asa Barbet, but it is 
really one of the large family of tyrant birds, of which thirty or forty species are 
found in the colony. It is a sturdy, pugnacious bird with a large head and 
measuring seven or eight inches from tip to tip of beak and tail. The breast, 
vent and under-wing feathers are bright sulphurious yellow, the wings, back, 
and tail are warm brown, the primaries and tail feathers being edged with 
russet-red. The head is black with a white corona, reminding one of a Carthu- 
sian Monk’s tonsure, and the chin also is white, merging into the yellow of the 
breast. The under-feathers on the crown of the head are silken yellow-orange, 
and sometimes a feather or so escapes from beneath its sombre covering. On 
the whole it is a handsome bird, but its manners are plebeian. 
No one ever thinks of keeping it in a cage and the general impression is, that 
it is impossible to do so. It is the sparrow of Demerara, and like the sparrow 
it has taken possession of the town and keeps the other birds in order, going 
aboutas if the whole place belonged to it. It is often to be seen chivying 
the chima-chima hawk or any other suspicious characters. Unlike the spar- 
row it is never seen in flocks but always in twos or families. It is a domestic 
bird and holds all family ties sacred. As I say, it owns the place, and its nest, 
a big affair roofed in, is built high on some tree without any attempt at con- 
cealment. No one interferes with him, the yellow-waistcoated tyrant, and 
the brazen-faced malapert. His self assurance is amazing. When caught or 
shot at and wounded, he screams with surprise and anger, fighting tooth and 
nail for his deliverance. A school-boy brought me one wounded in the breast 
and minus his tail. “ You will not be able to keep him, Sir, ” he said. I tended 
the wound and put him into a small cage on the floor without food or water. 
After an hour or so I offered some strips of cooked meat. He eyed it and me: 
made a step nearer : took a piece and swallowed it and his pride ; then looked 
at me humiliated, and took another. The battle was won. I kept him fora 
few months but his note was too loud for my room ; even when I put the cage 
in a corner with a cloth over it, he would not be silenced. Besides he had 
visitors. One morning returning to my room I heard a perfect din. Another 
couple were paying him a call. They perched upon my electric-light wire 
and the room echoed with their greetings. I had had enough of the Kiskadee. 
So [let him go. 
The Kiskadee will eat anything that any other bird will eat, or nearly so. 
He may be seen hovering over the water like a hawk to filch fishes from their 
watery element. He will dart into the air and catch big beetles on the wing. 
He will gorge himself with palm fruit. He will haunt your backyard for 
kitchen stuff. . . . As I have said there are about forty species of tyrants in 
the colony and quite five other species that might be taken for our friend. 
Grey-HEADED TYRANT Birp. 
One of these is the grey-headed tyrant-bird (‘Tyrannus melancholicus) and 
looks like a Kiskadee in mufti. But he is a bird of lighter build and feels like 
