THEIR WAYS AND MEANS. 
411 
Skilled as be is as a singer and posture-maker, be displays mucb 
greater ability in his role of nest-builder. He and his comrades form a 
compact little colony, and suspend their nests to the same tree — the 
form being that of a purse or bag. Like all the weaver-birds, they 
utilize the same nest for a considerable period, taking care to repair it 
annually. They are nearly all of them partially open at the sides, so 
that the family can be seen " at home." Their construction, it has been 
truly said, necessitates a considerable expenditure of time, labour, and 
ingenuity. 
Some species make use of fibres only, which they pluck from the 
fronds of the Maximilianese. The bird perches on the frond, picks off 
with his bill the outer integument for a length of some inches, seizes 
the loosened end, and then, in a curious fashion, flies to one side, so as 
to strip the fibres over an extent of three or four ells. Other species 
employ long stems of grass, which they glue together with their 
saliva. 
Man is, of course, the principal and most dreaded enemy of the 
ingenious and industrious cassiques. Against the smaller birds of prey 
they can defend themselves, but the large species of falcons are 
formidable. While both the shape and position of the nest shelter 
the young from many dangers to which those of other birds are 
exposed, Schomburgk describes a peril from which all their address 
could hardly save them, — an inundation of the neighbouring river. 
Great companies of cassiques, he says, surrounded their nests, scream- 
ing loudly ; many had already been invaded and swept away by the 
waters. Some were anxiously seeking their nest, their eggs, their 
young; others, still out of reach of the flood, continued calmly to 
incubate, to nourish their offspring, to work at their nests, undisturbed 
by the lamentations of their companions. The life of one of these bird- 
colonies may be accepted as an image of the life of our great towns ; in 
them, as in these, the dwelling-places of the community stand side by 
side, but none take heed of the misfortunes of their neighbours. 
The great crested cassique is the most interesting species. This 
handsome bird inhabits the virgin forest, and does not approach the 
plantations unless they lie contiguous to it. He is never found in open 
