318 Tvmehri. 



The Black Mockixg-Bird. 



I found in the North West District a bird I have not yet been able to 

 scientifically identify, but which is known locally as the Black Mocking- 

 bird. It is smaller than the foregoing and is entirely black. It congre- 

 gates in great flocks by the waterside making a great chattering ; but 

 builds its nest alone. I have found a great number of these nests up the 

 creek at Morawhanna. They are woven of black roots or fibres and 

 adorned with lichens and mosses : in shape they resemble a basket, and the 

 handle is simply slung over a branch. The eggs, four in number, are 

 white, covered with red spots. I secured a nest of young ones and 

 succeeded in rearing them. They were amusing creatures, shaking them- 

 selves prodigiously when being fed, and uttering surprisingly low-toned 

 cries : cries that seemed to come from their boots, so to speak. The note 

 of the old bird is loud, piercing and bell-like and when once heard in the 

 creek is not easily forgotten. Unfortunately I had to leave the district 

 lief ore these young ones were fully developed and was unable to carry 

 them away with me. There are no specimens or skins of this bird in the 

 Museum. 



The Great Rice-Bird. 



Allied to the Mocking-birds, but more closely so the Lazy-bird, 

 described in my last article, is the Great Rice-Bird, (Cassidix oryzivora), 

 that is " the great cassique rice-devourer." This bird is as large as an 

 English crow and as black ; but it is more graceful in form with its slim 

 body and dainty head. The beak is black, trim, and conical ; the maxilla 

 is rounded where it joins the skull, but not so prominently so as in the 

 yellow-backs, etc. The eye is red. The sexes are more or less alike. 

 The male is glossy purple-black ; but has not the satiny sheen of its 

 diminutive relative, the Lazy-bird. or. as it is known in scientific circles, 

 the Common Rice-Bird. The hen has the same cuckoo habit of placing 

 her eggs in the nest of another bird. The egg is like that of our English 

 thrush, but twice the size. A beautiful cock bird I had. was taken, by 

 mistake, from the nest of a yellow-back and reared by hand. When it 

 could fend for itself, it made its home among the domestic fowls. It fed 

 with them, fought with them, and after flying about all day. would roost 

 with them at night. It would cluck like a hen and crow like a cock, and 

 was so taken up with its novel companions that it never more showed any 

 affection for the hand that had fed it in callow youth. I kept it in a large 

 cage, but it never grew tame. When, however, a fowl approached it 

 would show an affectionate concern, clucking and spreading out its 

 leathers. As its specific name implies, it feeds exclusively on grain, 

 showing a preference for paddy which it husks like a finch ! Mine had 

 the ingenuity to open the lid of its seed-box and thus save itself a good 

 deal of trouble. 



The Guiana Black-Bird. 



The Guiana, or Demerara black-bird (Quiscalus lugubris) is the size 



of the bird so named in England and is as black, but otherwise has 



nothing in common. It has, in fact, all the habits of a Starling. It is 



glossy, dead-black, the only relieving colour being that of the eye which 



