316 Timehri. 



MOCKING-BIRDS OR HANG-NESTS. 

 The Mocking-birds are. like the tanagers or sackis, allied to the 

 tinches ; unlike them however, they have affinity with the Starlings and 

 with the Mynas of India ; and this latter affinity is more apparent. The 

 way in which they stalk about and pry into other people's affairs betrays 

 at once their starling character. Let me say at once that though 

 these birds well deserve their name, they have no affinity with the 

 Mocking-bird of North America.* 



I have been fortunate enough to rear several yellow-back mocking- 

 birds from the nest. It is difficult to do so. All kinds of food must be 

 offered and much patience and skill is required in administering it ; for 

 they have a wonderful way of ejecting w T hat they have received, as well 

 as of rudely declining the choicest viands. Sometimes I have had to do 

 what the Government at home has been so much blamed for doing in 

 regard of the obstinate hunger-strike suffragette. I have had to forcibly 

 feed them. It is some time before they become accustomed to eat what 

 one can supply them in place of the seeds and insects of their native 

 habitat. 



The Yellow-Back 



The Yellow-back Mocking-bird (Cassicus persicus) is a splendid 

 fellow. Fully nine inches in length, he is glossy black with the excep- 

 tion of the rump. vent, and under-tail coverts, which are golden yellow : 

 there is also a longitudinal bar of yellow on the wings. The feathers are 

 trim, sleek and hard. The slightly curved bill, an inch-and-a-half in length, 

 is also yellow and the upper beak or maxilla is joined to the forehead 

 by a rounded projection after the manner of the beak of a mediaeval 

 helmet; hence its name Cassicus from Latin cassis a helmet. A striking- 

 feature is the eye, the iris of which is bright blue. His gait is stately 

 and altogether he has a military bearing. The hen is like her lord but 

 much smaller. 



Yellow-backs live in colonies and at nesting time much noise 

 and racket goes on. The nests are wonderful structures of dried palm- 

 tibre woven with great skill, and hung from the ends of the branches of 

 a tree, in size and shape like Indian clubs. The eggs, two in number, 

 are dull white with a few small dots or lines of purple-red. They are 

 comparatively small, being only the size of starlings'. The name 

 of " hang-nests " given these birds is by no means discriminative, 

 for many birds in the colony build nests after this fashion. The ordin- 

 ary cry of the bird begins with a sound like the creaking of a bough in 

 the wind, and changes into the hollow sound of a Swiss cow-bell. 



A high thorn}' tree is generall}" chosen for their colony ; but not 

 always so. At the Catholic Mission ground at Morawhanna is a large 

 colony on a small mango tree. Do these birds realize that the land all 

 about is marshy and that, in consequence, the tree is almost unapproach- 

 able ? It would seem so. 



*Note. — The real Blocking-Bird is tbe Mimus iiolyylottv.s. a grey bird the size of a 

 large thrush, with affinities both to thrushes and wrens. 



