SOUTH AMERICA. 
119 
and his rump, belly, and half the tail, are of the second 
same colour. All the rest of the body is black. J0UR 
His beak is the colour of sulphur, but it fades in 
death, and requires the same operation as the bill of 
the toucan to make it keep its colours. Up the 
rivers, in the interior, there is another cassique, 
nearly the same size, and of the same habits, though 
not gifted with its powers of imitation. Except in 
breeding time, you will see hundreds of them retiring 
to roost, amongst the moca-moca-trees and low shrubs 
on the banks of the Demerara, after you pass the first 
island. They are not common on the sea-coast. 
The rump of the cassique is a flaming scarlet. All 
the rest of the body is a rich glossy black. His 
bill is sulphur colour. You may often see numbers 
of this species weaving their pendulous nests on one 
side of a tree, while numbers of the other sj)ecies are 
busy in forming theirs on the opposite side of the 
same tree. Though such near neighbours, the 
females are never observed to kick up a row, or 
come to blows ! 
Another species of cassique, as large as a crow, is Another 
very common in the plantations. In the morning, the C Cas - 0 
he generally repairs to a large tree, and there, with sique ‘ 
his tail spread over his back, and shaking his lowered 
wings, he produces notes, which though they cannot 
be said to amount to a song, still have something 
very sweet and pleasing in them. He makes his 
nest in the same form as the other cassiques. It is 
above four feet long ; and when you pass under the 
tree, which often contains fifty or sixty of them, you 
