20I 



1Rc5tinG ot the Black ^ana^er 



( Tachyphonus inelaleucus), 



ant) the IDiolet ZTanaGcr 



{Euphonia violacea). 

 By W. E. Teschemaker, B.A. 



Having been commanded by our Editor to con- 

 tribute some notes on the nesting of Tanagers, I have 

 selected the above two species, the former of which 

 nested in my aviaries in 1906 and the latter this season. 



On the Continent several species of Tanagers have 

 been successfully bred (e.g. the Many-Coloured and 

 the Scarlet) but in this country very little seems to 

 have been done. Of course Tanagers are not every- 

 body's fancy, and they have only recently been kept 

 in out-door aviaries. In the early days of aviculture 

 they were kept for the most part in small cages at a 

 high temperature, under which condition they seldom 

 survived very long. Even the late Aug. Wiener, with 

 his great experience and skill, failed with Tanagers. 

 Undoubtedly some aviculturists succeed in keeping 

 some Tanagers in good health in cages, but I must 

 frankl}^ confess that I cannot do so, and I would not 

 recommend anyone to \x\ the experiment. 



The conditions essential to success are, I think: 

 (i) To have your birds well wintered and in robust 

 health at the commencement of the breeding season ; 

 (2) To get them thoroughly tame; (3) A fairly large 

 aviary with some growing shrubs; (4) A fine warm 

 summer. I lay stress on this last condition because, 

 although I succeeded with the only pair I turned out 

 in the fine summer of 1906, this year out of four pairs 

 only one made any attempt to nest. No doubt this 

 was partly due to the fact that, owing to severe illness. 



