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the character of Cassidix oryzivora, and may possibly be the means

of saving some fellow aviculturist from the sorrow and loss

that befell me.


At page ioo of vol. iv. of onr Magazine, under its Dutch

name of Zwarte Kivispaal, I briefly referred to my first meeting

with this species. In general beauty, especially as regards the

development of the neck-feathers, this specimen was superior to

either Mr. Russell Humphry’s or my own —possibly because it

may have been an older bird, probably because it was kept, as a

tropical bird should be kept, in a warm, well-sheltered place.


The sight of Mr. Russell Humphry’s Black Cassique

at the Palace Show of February, 1898, had so stirred up my

recollection of the admiration with which I had beheld the

Amsterdam specimen that, on a fine healthy male being offered

to me on the day already mentioned, being ignorant of its evil

nature, and having no means of learning about it, I purchased

the bird, and considered myself a happy man. It came from a

long way up the Amazon—so I was told, and probably with a

measure of truth, judging from independent evidence obtained

through other sources. It was still in its foreign-made travelling

cage, and its wings were cut.


For several weeks I kept my new acquisition in a six-foot

cage in my dining-room. There were some little finches in the

room, which were often let out for a fly ; and I noticed with

concern that he kept the closest watch on the movements of

these little things, darting at any that might chance to come

near his cage, and, terrier like, betraying the greatest eagerness

to help me whenever I was driving them home or trying to catch

them. However, when the April Magazine came out, and I read

Mr. Russell Humphry’s account of his specimen, I was greatly

comforted, and concluded that my bird’s excitement was only

his “ play.”


While in this room, the bird’s feathers were steadily

growing, and about the middle of April he could fly sufficiently

to be transferred to the birdroom with garden aviarj^ attached.

Here he was very gallant, making love promiscuously to several

female birds of various species ; but the males for the most part

he pursued with such determination that I could not help feeling

a little uncomfortable notwithstanding Mr. Russell Humphry’s

experiences. When I was in the aviary, he was quite an

exemplary character ; but why, when I was out of sight, did he

pursue the birds, especially some of the Parrakeets, with such

relentless earnestness, and why did the birds generally regard



