26o 



cage being simply baited with fruit. The local bird- 

 lime is merely the sticky sap of a tree and is used as 

 follows. A papaw fruit — a sweet, oval-shaped fruit 

 about the size of a cocoanut — into which three or four 

 " limed" twigs or umbrella wires have been stuck, is 

 fixed on the end of a stick and placed in a tree. The 

 bird coming to eat the fruit settles upon one of the 

 '■limed" twigs or wires, which falls to the ground 

 carrying the captive with it. 



lu Demerara, I fed my Tanagers — of which I had 

 nine local species — upon sweetened boiled rice and 

 milk, ringing the changes upon boiled potato, yam, 

 and cassara. This had to be renewed twice daily, be- 

 cause it goes sour in a few hours in the tropics. A 

 daily supply of fresh-water shrimps, first beheaded and 

 then cut into small pieces, was also given ; together 

 with an unlimited supply of ripe fruit — orange, banana, 

 papaw, cashew, guava, mangoe, pineapple, nectarine, 

 etc. Green food, especially lettuce, is greedily eaten, 

 by both the Blue and the Maroon Tanager. They are 

 also fond of bathing. Upon sugar estates greatdamage 

 is done to the sugar-canes by caterpillars, for the des- 

 truction of which boys are employed. It was thus 

 often possible for a few cents to secure a supply of 

 these fat juicy grubs — which grow nearly two inches 

 long — as a special treat for the birds. 



In England, a very good staple food for Tanagers 

 may be made from crumbled stale sponge-cake, mixed 

 with ants' cocoons and dried flies; this must be sup- 

 plemented by mealworms, green food, and plenty of 

 ripe fruit. 



I have found both the Blue and the Maroon Tana- 

 ger to be amicable with smaller birds in an aviary ; 



