A GOLD MINE IN THE WILDERNESS 205 



They set to work at once, establishing their new colony in 

 the tree which we had cut down. So at the time we began 

 to study this colony, it could not have been older than three 

 months. 



The tree stood alone in the centre of the tailings from 

 the gold washing and 20 or 30 feet away from all the sur- 

 rounding trees. The linely sifted sediment of the tailings 

 had broadened out the water of the creek bed so that it 

 flowed delta-like on both sides of the tree. With their 

 characteristic intelligence, the Cassiques had taken advan- 

 tage of this unusual condition, and were thus guarded from 

 enemies, by the water, by the isolation from other trees 

 and by the far more formidable stinging ants which probably 

 for many years had had their home on the trunk of the tree. 

 The little bird city as we found it contained 39 homes; 

 three-quarters of which were on one branch, 70 feet from 

 the ground, while 10 were susj)ended from a smaller Ijranch, 

 a few feet lower down. Of the 39 nests, 4 were only half 

 finished, while 10 were empty, having been already used 

 and deserted this season. The others may be divided as 

 follows : 



One nest contained an addled egg; white with brownish 

 spots chiefly at the larger end. 



One nest had one egg containing a week old embryo. 



Two nests each had a skeleton of a well grown young 

 bird; one of which had been caught about the neck, and the 

 other about the legs by fine flexible tendrils which had caused 

 their deaths. 



There were altogether 28 young birds: 9 full-fledged, 16 

 with feathers just appearing, while 3 were recently hatched. 

 They were distributed as follows: 



14 nests contained i young bird. 

 7 nests contained 2 young birds. 



