30 



rOEEION BIEDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



ihem. While jting-ing the bird continues moving, but 

 always concealed in the thick foliage, and it is probably 

 this constant turning about of the singer, and the notes 

 coming through leafy screens of varying density, which 

 makes the ventriloquism and gives so much light and 

 shade to the mysterious melody. 



" The finst bird of this species I eliot was wounded 

 very slightly in one wing and fell into a stream ; to my 

 very great surprise it began singing its usual song while 

 floating about on the surface, luaking no attempt to 

 swim. After fishing it out it continued to sing at inter- 

 vals in my hand; how strange it was to bear this 

 bleeding, cn]itive. bird warbling out soft, sweet notes 

 wliich -seemed to express only pleasant emotions ! Yet 

 it was e%adent that the bird was fully alive to its danger, 

 for it struggled violently to escape and bit my finger 

 savagely with its s'hai"p beak. 



" I subsequentlv found a nest; it was about Tin. deep, 

 composed entirely of lichens igathered from the boles of 

 trees, ingeniously woven together and suspended from 

 the small twigs and leaves at the extremity of a branch. 

 There were no eggs in it, but the birds fluttered in great 

 trouble about me. and, what surprised me. uttered a 

 variety of sinr/inrj notes, unlike their usual ?ong, but 

 many of them closely resembling the notes of other 

 .songsters, which made me tlhink thait this Irfenis pos- 

 sesses the niimickine faculty to some extent." 



Though many collectors speak of this as a common 

 bird, I have been unable to find a description of the eggs. 

 Russ .speaks of it as unfortunately extremely rare in the 

 market ; indeed, he seems (.nly U> have known of one 

 example in the Beriin Zoological Gardens. Touching 

 Hudson's remarks respecting this bird singing when dis- 

 tressed, it is by no means the only Starling whicli does 

 so. You can make the Crested Mynah sing by oatehing 

 it and holding it in your hands. Most Starlings are 

 clever mimics. 



Yeli.ow-crowned H.\ngnest {Ic/e7'us cJiri/sorcphahi.']. 



Black : the crown, forehead excepted, upper lesser 

 wing-coverts, under wing-coverts and thighs yellow ; 

 liill and feet black ; irides bro«-n. Female similar in 

 jilumage, %ut doubtless with a shorter bill. Hab., 

 ■' Colombia, Venezuela, Guiana, and Amazonia" (P. L. 

 Sclater.) 



Mr. H. Whitelv obtained this species on Rorainia at 

 a height of 3,500 ifeet {The Ib!s, 1885, p. 218l. 



Spix found this species singly in forest on the Rio 

 Xegi-o.ivhere it was not rare, but in Guiana and Colombia 

 it was abundant. It sings very prettily, according ti> 

 Peizeln, and that appears to be all that has been pub- 

 lished respecting its wild life. 



The London Zrmlogical Society purchased an example 

 in 1886, and in 1893 iliss Hagenbeck exhiljited another 

 at the exihibition of the " Ornis " Society. 



Y'^ELLOW-SHOULDEEED H.\NGNEST {Icteril!> tihialh).* 



Black ; lesser upper wing-coverts, under wing-coverts 

 and thiglis yellow ; bill black ; feet bluish-grey ; irides 

 red-brown. Female similar in plumage, but doubtless 

 with a shorter bill. Hab., South-east Brazil. 



Burmeister (" Systcmatische Uebersicht." Vol. III.. 

 pp. 271, 272) say.s that this Hangnest "lives chiefly in 

 pairs in bushy regions, prefers river banks, feeds on 

 insects and neai-ly ripe fleshy fruits, and has a not 

 unpleasing song, whidi attempts to mimic the notes of 

 other birds like that of our Starling. Nidificates in 

 purse-shaped, pensile nests, openly woven of dry stems, 



' Dr. Russ ponfounds this species with tho closely related 

 I. cuijanensU: his description and observational certainly apply 

 to 7. tibiaUi. 



and lays whitish-blue eggs, speckled with red-brown." 

 W. A. Forbes says {T/ie Ibis. 1881, p. 339):— "This 

 bird I fii'st observed at Quipapa, where it was not un- 

 conmion in the \acinity of tie town, flying about in 

 small companies of twos and threes. " I "afterwards 

 found it at Macuca and Garanhuns, and saw a single 

 specimen in the gaixlen at C'abo a few da.ys before I 

 sailed, though I did not -see the species a.t all during 

 my previous stay there. The bird is also foimd at Sai> 

 I.^renzo, a village about twentv' miles west of Recife, as 

 a living specimen I bought in Recife came from there. 

 The bird is not rarely to be seen caged in the houses of 

 the Brazilians, Who call it " Sheshou de Banancira," to 

 distinguish it from the common " Sheslliou " {Casficus 

 ■/lersicus). It is also sometimes called " Soldado," or 

 soldier. I succeeded in bringing three sj^ecimens alive 

 to Ivondon. two of which are still living in the Zoological 

 (iardens, where it has not before, 1 believe, been ex- 

 hibited alive." 



Accoixling to Russ. this liird was first imported into 

 Germany early in 1870, and both Jamrach of London 

 and Bekemaiis of Antwerp have introduced it several 

 times into the market. Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria 

 liossessed it in 1878 ; but JNIr. Forbes, in 1880, was the 

 tir.«t to add it to the London Zoological Society's col- 

 lection. Since then it has always come over occasion- 

 all.v if not very often, and always singly. 



Waglee's H.tNGNEST {Icferus trailer')). 



Black ; rump, abdomen, and anal tuft bright cadmium 

 ,vellow ; slightlv tinged with chestnut close to the black 

 of the chest ; bill black, the lower mandible pale greyish- 

 blue towards base ; feet leaden grey ; irides bi'own. 

 Female smaller, and with shorter bill. Hab., Mexico 

 and Guatemala. 



Mr. C. W. Beebe (" Two Bird-lovers in Mexico," Ap- 

 pendix, p. 392) sa.vs of this species : " Alumdant in the 

 liarrancas about Guadalajara and from Tux'pan to the 

 Pacific." and at p. 149 he observes : " Orioles soon made 

 their appearance, a flock of them, somewhat like our 

 Baltimores, but lai'ger and with jet black wings and 

 tail — the Wagler Orioles. Their gaudy costume of 

 orange and black is not acquired until the thiixl year, 

 and during the first two seasons the immature birds 

 have to be satisfied with more sombre tints of light 

 .vellow and green. These birds, too, have renomiced 

 song for their coat of many colours, and can only rattle 

 harshly. Their alarm-note is hard and metallic, like 

 that of a Nuthatch." 



The above is all that 1 have discovered respecting- 

 the wild life. 



According to Russ, it has liithei<to only appeared in 

 the London Zoological Gardens, where it arrived in 

 1876. 



Bl.-vck-winged Hangnest [Icterus giraudi). 



Bright yellow, tinged with orange ; front and sides 

 of head, throat to middle of breast, wings, tail, bill, and 

 feet, black. Hab., S. Mexico, Yucatan, Guatemala, and 

 throughout Central America to Venezuela and 

 Colombia. 



Mr. G. H. Gurne.v purcliased an example of this rare 

 Hangnest early in 1909. 



Golden Hangnest {Irterus xanlhorinis). 

 Bright golden yellow, slightly washed with olive 

 between the shoulders ; wings, excepting the lesser 

 coverts, black ; greater coverts, secondaries, and bases 

 of primaries edged with white : greater coverts with 

 white tips; tail bJack, the lateral feathers more or less 

 broadly edged with whitish at the tips, the concealed 

 bases of the feathers yellow ; lores black ; naked orbital 



