254 



•' Female shmlsLV, but not quite so bright in colour; and red 

 " iu crest barely apparent. 



" Had. Southern Brazil, Paragua}', Uruguay, and N. of 

 " Argentine Republic." 



Professor Lydekker, F.R.S., in "The Royal 

 Natural History," writing in a less dr3'ly scientific 

 strain, tells us : 



" One of the loveliest of the family is the White-capped 

 " Tanager, a summer visitor to Argentina, where, says Mr. 

 " W. H. Hudson, 'it makes its appearance in the spring in 

 " the woods bordering on the Plata River, and is usually 

 " seen singly or in pairs. The nest is built in a tree ten or 

 " twelve feet from the ground, and is somewhat shallow, and 

 " lined with soft dry grass. The female lays four eggs, white 

 " and spotted with red. During incubation the male sits 

 *' concealed in the thick foliage close by, amusing itself by 

 "the hour with singing, its performance consisting of chat- 

 " tering disconnected notes, uttered in so low a tone as to 

 "make one fancy that the bird is merely trying to recall some 

 "melody it has forgotten, or endeavouring to construct a new 

 "one by jerking out a variety of sounds at random. The 

 "bird never gets beyond this unsatisfactory stage, however, 

 "and must be admired for its exquisite beauty alone.' Azara 

 "named this species the 'Blue White-Headed Beautiful.' 

 "and the term was justified, for the entire plumage of both 

 " sexes is a lovely deep corn-flower blue, surmounted by a 

 "cap of silvery- white feathers; a crimson spot ornamenting 

 " the forehead, looking like a drop of blood." 



This practically completes the general knowledge 

 of the bird, though Gould also refers to it as inhabiting 

 the mountainous districts of Brazil. 



A comparison between these extracts and the 

 clever drawing by Mr. Goodchild, will easily enable 

 my readers to form a very good idea of the distribu- 

 tion of colours in the bird. Its unique appearance 

 and great attraction lies, no doubt, in the oblong patch 

 of silky white feathers which cover the crown— from 

 which it is also called the White-crowned Tanager — 

 and the short bright red feathers immediately in front 

 of the white, which the bird can raise or depress at 



