108 



WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



Mankind, by clearing tlie ground, and sowing a 

 variety of seeds, induces many kinds of birds to leave 

 their native haunts, and come and settle near him : 

 their little depredations on his seeds and fruits prove 

 that it is the property, and not the proprietor, which 

 has the attractions. 



One bird, however, in Demerara is not 

 c^Ji^^ actuated by selfish motives : this is the 



sic^ue. «^ 



Cassique ; in size, he is larger than the star- 

 ling ; he courts the society of man, but disdains to 

 live by his labours. When nature calls for support, 

 he repairs to the neighbouring forest, and there par- 

 takes of the store of fruits and seeds which she has 

 produced in abundance for her aerial tribes. When 

 his repast is over, he returns to man, and pays the little 

 tribute which he owes him for his protection ; he takes 

 his station on a tree close to his house, and there, for 

 hours together, pours forth a succession of imitative 

 notes. His own song is sweet, but very short. If a 

 toucan be yelping in the neighbourhood, he drops it, 

 and imitates him. Then he will amuse his protector 

 with the cries of the different species of the wood- 

 pecker j and when the sheep bleat, he will distinctly 

 answer them. Then comes his own song again, and if 

 a puppy dog, or a Guinea fowl interrupt him, he takes 

 them off admirably, and by his different gestures 

 d.uring the time, you would conclude that he enjoys 

 the sport. 



The cassique is gregarious, and imitates any sound 

 he hears with such exactness, that he goes by no other 

 name than that of Mocking-bird amongst the colonists. 



At breeding time, a number of the pretty choristers 

 resort to a tree near the planter's house, and from its 



