ORDER SCANSORKS. 543 



productions of nature, because they studied their relations 

 more than their forms, — if they, who sent the sluggard to the 

 ant " to learn her ways and be wise,"" had been acquainted 

 with this peaceful and amiable community of birds, they 

 would not have failed to have held them up as an example to 

 the mischievous, the envious, and the quarrelsome — to the 

 turbulent and intermeddling crowds, which torment, divide, 

 and undermine the societies of men. 



The anis construct their nests very solidly, but somewhat 

 inartificially, with little branches of shrubs, bound together 

 with the filaments of plants. This nest is very wide, and 

 raised at the edges. It is sometimes eighteen inches in 

 diameter, and its capacity is proportioned to the number of 

 females that intend to lay their eggs there. The small 

 number of those that hatch apart, form a separation in the 

 nest with blades of grass to contain their eggs. They all 

 cover them with leaves or grass in proportion as they lay 

 them, and continue to do so during the time of incubation, 

 when obliged to quit them to seek for food. These females, 

 which are a little smaller than the males, and have a more 

 opake and sombre plumage, have several broods in the year, 

 and many eggs each time. 



The food of these birds is both animal and vegetable. 

 Small serpents, however, lizards, and other reptiles, cater- 

 pillars, large ants, and insects in general, seem to be the 

 aliments which they prefer. They also perch on oxen, to 

 pick out the vermin which lodge in the hair and skin of these 

 animals, whence their ornithological name of crotophaga 

 (eaters of vermin). In default of animal nutriment, they 

 feed on different species of grain, such as maize, millet, rice, 

 wild oats, &c., but never in such quantities as to be hurtful 

 to the crops ; nay, they must be considered as serviceable 

 to these, from the number of insects they destroy. 



An usual attitude with the anis is to draw back the neck, 

 and press the head close against the body. They are neither 



