290 
A Colony of Mocking-Birds. 
by inch. The current amounted to 6 knots an hour. The flakes of foam 
had changed the surface into a white moveable tield of snow. Large 
flocks of moeking birds { Cossivus prrsictis und C. Itacinorrhiis) that 
might not have expected this high flood swarmed with disquieting cry 
around their j)urse-shaped nests fastened to the branches overhanging 
tlie lianks, while many of tliem had been reached or were already en- 
gulfed in it. Anxious screams rose from many a pair that were flying 
about to tiiid tlu'ir nest, tlieir eiigs, their young, wliile others to which 
the waters had not yet dra^^•n nigh, continued hatching and feeding their 
little ones, or else carried along material for the commencing nests, and 
took no notice of the grief-stricken cries of their relatives. Life in this 
colony Avas a true reprc-sentation of life in the larger cities: just like 
the latter, the birds Jiad ])eacal)ly built their nests in close proximity, 
without the one ti'oubliiig itself al)0ut the sorrows of the other. 
ÜS4. Tlie nests of botli species c<»rresponde<l in the method of con- 
8tructif)n, Itut not in building matei'ial. Cassiciif< persicjii^ builds its nest 
with the thi-ead-like stri])s or tilaments which it peels off from the fronds 
of the Ma.iimillann rc<iin and Mnttritkt jlcsiwsa, a Avork in which we 
saw hundreds of birds engaged on the palms growing along the banks. 
And Avith Avhat skill they get jtossessioii of these stri])sl llai'dly has it 
settled ui^on tlie leaf than the bird fixes the outer epidermis with its 
beak, loosens it at first a few inches from the tip, then flies down it 
with a peculiar rapid motion, and so pulls generally 3 to 4 ft. of thread off 
from it. Cas^lriis linonorrJiii^ builds its nest only out of blades of 
grass and a white lichen. The latter had almost all hatched already, 
while hardly half the nests of C. prrsicus contained the two brownish 
spotted eggs. 
ßS."). Although the morning sky Avas only slightly clouded, it was 
about 10 o'clock Avhen thick dark clouds again put in an appearance as 
they rapidly rose on the horizon, while the toucans, the sure harbingers 
of rain, sounded their notes, and the busy mocking-lurds commenced 
their liA'ely chatter. To the shrill whistle of the Buraeti or Carawui 
'( Rhnwpliaftfiifi Tor-o) was now added toKlay the more hoarse cry of a 
swarm of noisy falcons (Falco oiudicolis Daud.) Notwithstanding the 
number of these garrulous birds that I hHA^e shot, T have never yet found 
in tlieir crop or maw any flesh or small balls of hair, but always only 
fruits and berries • in the very great majority of cases the latter consisted 
of an orange coloured berry that appeared to belong to a MaJpighia. 
Furthermore, T have neA-er observed them following another bird or a 
small mammal. OAving to its unpleasantly piercing clamiour. the falcon 
is equallv as hateful to the Indians ns it is to the Tolonists. The 
latter call it Bull dog: the Warraus, Yacka-tatta, a word that resemldes 
its note: but the a\'0im1 that comes nearest to it is that of the Macusis, 
Callau-callau. However much I may have wished to see one of those 
mighty eagles of South America,; the ffnrpyia (Irsinictor Temm., the 
wish had hitherto never been fulfilled. T only kncAV it by its descrip- 
tion and had seen its Avhite ostrich-like body plumes only on the feather 
caps of the Wapisianas, Avho generally assured us that it belonged to the 
rarest of birds, a fact that Avas CAddent ]»y the value the possessor of 
