ongst the colonists.

At breeding-time, a number of these pretty choristers resort to a tree
near the planter's house, and from its outside branches weave their
pendulous nests. So conscious do they seem that they never give offence,
and so little suspicious are they of receiving any injury from man, that
they will choose a tree within forty yards from his house, and occupy the
branches so low down, that he may peep into the nests. A tree in
Waratilla creek affords a proof of this.

The proportions of the cassique are so fine, that he may be said to be a
model of symmetry in ornithology. On each wing he has a bright yellow
spot, and his rump, belly, and half the tail are of the same colour. All
the rest of the body is black. 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 mocamoca-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 species 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 very common in the
plantations. In the morning he generally repairs to a large tree, and
there, with 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 cannot help stopping to admire them as they wave to and fro,
the sport of every storm and breeze. The rump is chestnut; ten feathers
of the tail are a fine yellow, the remaining two, which are the middle
ones, are black, and an inch shorter than the others. His bill