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 is sulphur-colour; all the rest
of the body black, with here and there shades of brown. He has five or six
long narrow black feathers on the back of his head, which he erects at
pleasure.
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