51 



Scarlet, He is not greedy but hardly eats any soft 

 mixture, only banana and orange. He does not care 

 as much for mealworms as the others, [Many 

 individuals will eat as many as you choose to give. — 

 Ed.] He bathes seldom. He keeps himself in 

 exquisite plumage, spends most of the day thinking, 

 if I let him out he promptly goes into some one else's 

 cage and thinks there. [In a moderate sized aviary 

 this species seldom becomes tame, and I am of opinion 

 that Mrs. Vernon's bird must be a female, for my male 

 has quite a sustained song, most of the notes being 

 piercingly high. — Ed.] 



Olive Tanager. 

 This bird is the clown among Tanagers. He is 

 horribly greedy, very dirty and most pugnacious to 

 all others of his kind ; I have seen him having a dis- 

 agreement with my Shama, it was really quite amusing, 

 the Tanager only sat back on his tail and the Shama* 

 jumped up in the air and struck at him with his feet 

 but nothing happened. He eats all day or would if I 

 allowed it. Bathes very well, but digs his beak so 

 deep into the banana that I have had to clean his 

 nostrils which were quite closed up with the soft fruit, 

 I notice all these birds do very little, comparatively 

 speaking, preening of their plumage. 



I consider the last three about on a par for lazy, 

 sleepy amiability. Very likely when I put them out 

 into a big aviary they will change all that. 



It is curious the Superb being the only one to 

 sing, though the Olive gives a short sharp cry some- 

 times, especially when trying to hurt some other bird, 



* The Shaiiia was probablj* the aggressor.— Ed. 



