FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARV. 



that /. vulgaris occurs on Curagao, and is said t& be 

 paler thaai the continental fornt; but Dr. Hartert. says: 

 " My birds, on the contrary, have very bright corours." 

 He adds that they are rather short-winged, but those 

 from Santa Marta in the British iluseum are quite 

 similar. Further on he says : " I did not find any 

 nests ; but, as everybody on Curasao knows, they are 

 totally different from those of Icterus xanthornus m 

 not having the long tube. 



" This bird is much appreciated as a cage-brrd on 

 account of its pure flute-like notes, and is often sent 

 for sale from Venezuela. This species is not rare m 

 certain places, such as the rocky hills covered with 

 brushwood and cactus, both on Aruba and Oura^ao, but 

 it is absent from Bonaire, thus indicating its immigra- 

 tion from the Continent. I saw it in the bush on St. 

 Thomas, where it has already been stated to occur by 

 Ridgway. It may have been introduced into that 

 island ; 'but, on account of other affinities between the 

 ornis of St. Thomas and that of Curagao, this is very 

 qxiestionable." {TU Ibis, 1893, pp. 297, 298.) 



My first example of this species was sold to me under 

 the iiame of "Brazilian Hangnest" in 1899, and I 

 described it as that species in Tlic Avicultural Maga- 

 zine. First Series, Vol. VIII., pp. 293-295. It twice 

 opened its own cage-door and escaped into my con- 

 servatory, where it took twenty minutes to catch it : 

 .-iubeequentlv I put a double fastening on the cage-dot.r. 

 \A"hen singing he stands high on his feet, throws back 

 his head with tbe bill pointing .straight upwards, and 

 raises the long feathers on the throat ; then he begins 

 to make a clicking sound, which can be imitated by 

 pressing the tongue against the palate and removing it 

 suddenfy, or a rattling purring note, which can be 

 reproduced by closing the lips, humming and simulta- 

 neously vibrating the soft palate ; then the song begins 

 now and again with a clearly whistled Hooharte, 

 hookarce. sometimes repeated half a dozen times as a 

 prelude, but by no means always ; the true song follows 

 — a quickly-reipeated resonant whistle, Tito, heo, heo, heo. 

 hco, heo. 'heo, heo in a loud tone, and then a little 

 lower : it never vai-ies except in the number of repeti- 

 tions of the monotonous note. 



In December, 1906, Miss Joan Gladstone sent me her 

 Hangnest, which struck me as being quite distinct, from 

 my first bird in the characters already indicated, and 

 wiien it began to sing I felt sure that it was, at least, a 

 different sub-.«pecies : it never introduces the characteris- 

 tic Hookaree as a prelude, and instead of the monoto- 

 nous whistle it has certaiidy nine (possibly more) varia- 

 tions in its songs. I recorded these in my paper pre- 

 \4ously referred to. the two most frequently uttered 

 being " Or-t/er. hurri-er, haw, hee ; chufcha-cair, 

 chutcha-caw, chutcha-cav>, chulcha-caw , chulcha-cair ; 

 hte" (or " ar her"), and the other begins either with 

 the note " Heer," or .sometimes " Or, ah, hee," and 

 then "hippoopnn peer, hippoopoo peer, toodle-year, ar 

 hee." These Hanguests are nice birds ; but. woe betide 

 any small bird that comes within reach of their bills. I 

 had a beautiful male Cordon Bleu in the next compart- 

 ment to my lemon-coloured specimen, and one day it 

 foolishly re'sted a moment on the wire partition ; in a 

 moment it was seized with bill and claw, half its wing 

 feathers torn out, and a great hole pecked in the side 

 of its head: another day a Zebra Finch lost a grent 

 bunch of feathers, but escaped without further injury. 



The correct food for this and aU the Hangnest s is 

 the same as for Tanagers — a good insectivorous mix- 

 ture containing plenty of yolk of egg (the first thing 

 they select, as all insectivorous birds do), plenty of 

 ripe fruit — grapes, sweet orange or pear and banana — 

 and a few insects or spiders when obtainable. 



BR-\ziLi-\if H-VKGNEST (IcUrus javiacaii). 



Bright reddish orange ; head and throat, scapularies, 

 wings excepting lesser coverts, and tail, black ; outer 

 borders of secondaries broadly white, forming a con- 

 spicuous patch ; bUl almost black, the base of lower 

 mandibie pearl-whitish ; feet black ; naked orbital 

 lozenge pearl gre.y ; irides pale primrose or bone yel- 

 lowish. Female smaller, and with noticeable sihorter 

 bill. Hab., S.E, Brazil. 



Burmeister (" Systematische Uebersicht," Vol. IH., 

 p. 269) says : " In the interior of Brazil, in the forests 

 of the Campos region, it lives singly or in pairs ; in the 

 winter in small parties ; it soon betrays itself by its 

 changeable voice with various notes, and for that reason 

 is frequently kept in cages. I met with the bird in 

 the environs of Lagoa santa, but had no opportunity 

 of securing it." " Its food consists of insects, especially 

 soft maggots and Jarvse, which it searches for on the 

 ground : yet (like tlie species of Cassicus) it takes toll 

 of ripe friiit, especially oranges,, and comes after them 

 even into the gajdens of the settlers." 



This beautiful species has always been fairly coimnon 



Br.\zili.\n Hangnkst. 



{Head and shoulders rif male. ) 



iu the bird market, though not enough so to make it a 

 cheap bird ; Ruse puts the price at from 18 to 24 niai'ke 

 a specimen, w-hich is rather higher than it generall.v 

 ruiifi in England ; I sliould think 15s, to 20s., either for 

 this or the Common Hangnest (which is always con- 

 founded with it), would be about the usual price for 

 freehly impoi-ted specimens. Of cour.se, thoroughly 

 acclimatised examples in perfect plimiage would be 

 worth more. I purchased a male of this species on 

 August 13th. 1897, but it was in poor condition, and 

 out of health, eo that it only lived thirteen days. It 

 was quite tame — friendly even — ^and in spite of its state 

 of health made a few attempts to sing, the notes being 

 clear, mellow, and pleasing. I fed it on orange, banana, 

 soft food, and mealwoi-ms. 



The Brazilian Hangnest first reached the London 

 Zoologic:il Gardens in'l860. and those of Amsterdam in 

 lod5. Why the name jamaeaii was given to the species 

 I do not pretend to know, but Russ says that the bird 

 was supposed to have come from Jamaica, which was, 

 of course, an error, and then he makes matters still 

 worse by altering it to jamaicensis. Jamaeaii means 

 nothing." but jamaicensis is mischievous and misleading. 



