376 NARRATIVEOFAN 



CHAP, m^les, and the latter the females of the fame fpecies : they 

 _ ^ indeed whittled a variety of notes, but neither had that 

 melody or imitation of other fongfters, which is fo gene- 

 rally afcribed to the mock-bird, and which, befides, I never 

 heard mentioned in Surinam. Thefe birds had their nefts 

 (above threefcore in number) fixed to the extremity of 

 the brancht^s, where they were dangling in the wind, 

 refembling egg-nets fluffed with hay, of which, indeed, 

 they were built; and about the middle of them there was 

 a fmall hole, at which the birds enter and go out. The 

 bottom is built wide, and perfectly round; there they lay 

 their eggs, and hatch their young ones, while the fpiral 

 roof prote6ls them from birds of prey, and from the 

 weather. But what is of more confequence, the monkeys, 

 which are fo numerous in this country, are^ by fuch a- 

 fituation, prevented from deftroying them, fince the 

 branches or twigs from which they depend, though- 

 ftrong enough to fupport the nefts, and what is in them, 

 are too weak to bear the load of more weighty invaders ; 

 and, for greater fecurity, I may add, they are moftly 

 built depending over water. — ( See the nefis in Plate XLV.) 

 The other bird which I Ihot in returning home, was the 

 Surinam falcon or hawk. Its fize and fliape was like thofe 

 of the fame fpecies in England : its colour light brown, 

 variegated on the breaft and tail with fpecks of red, 

 black, and yellow ; its tongue was cloven, its eyes remark- 

 ably bright, its legs a citron colour, and its talons armed 

 with long and fliarp-pointed claws. This bird is exceed- 

 ingly 



