XAYMACA; THE ISLAND OF MANY RIVERS 295 



lanceolate in shape with iridescent metallic sheen, 

 steel-blue, purple, and green, of varying intensity. 

 The bill, however, is the distinguishing feature. 

 It is compressed laterally, and resembles the 

 blade of an ink eraser, being about the same 

 size, proportion, and of similar contour. Anis 

 are gregarious, but do not assemble in large 

 flocks. Rarely are more than six or eight found 

 in company, and a solitary individual is excep- 

 tional. Nor do the birds pair in the ordinary 

 sense at mating time. Many work together in 

 the construction of a large communistic nest, 

 where all the females of the company lay their 

 eggs. Twenty-one eggs have been taken from a 

 single nest, but the number is not generally so 

 large. The site is frequently in a bunch of 

 mistletoe, always well up in the tree. 



Anis, while not exclusively insectivorous, are 

 almost wholly so. Larv« and grubs, in the drop- 

 pings of cattle and in the ground, are eagerly 

 sought. But it is as an enemy of the grass-tick 

 that the bird is noted. These minute parasites, 

 whether among the blades of grass or in the 

 hair of cattle, are hunted with avidity. Numbers 

 of the birds may often be seen carefully search- 

 ing through the hair of some patient cow or ox in 

 repose, and a band of grazing animals is always 

 attended by a party of these industrious hunters. 

 They walk about on the bodies of their bovine 



