186 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



Violet-bellied Parrot (Tridaria cyanogaster). 



Green ; outer webs of lirst lour or five primaries more 

 or less blue ; tail tipped with blue, the outer feather 

 also tinged with blue on outer web ; chin and thighs 

 sHghtlj' Dluish; middle of lower breast and of abdomen 

 ricn violet, witli a reddish suhusion; greater under 

 wing-coverts and inner webs of primaries below 

 veraiter-blue; tail below also verditer-olue; beak horn- 

 white ; feet brownish ; irides rich chestnut. Female 

 smaller, the body below entirely green, without the 

 violet patch; the tail below greener. Hab., South- 

 eastern Brazil. 



Burmeister gives us no account of the wOd life of 

 this species, although he says he received several 

 examples both m .New Freiburg and in Lagoa Santa. 

 It would seem that he did not himself secure them, 

 for he says : " To me it was called by the shooters 

 Maitacca ; the Prince and Spis call it ,Sabiah-si or 

 tiabiah-sica. which means Green throat" (or Thrush). 



In Canary and t uge-Bird Life for July 24th, 19u8, 

 the Rev. H. D. Astley published an account of a 

 specimen of this bird in his possession. He there 

 says : — 



" ily bird is extremely gentle, and a curious mixture 

 of timidity and confidence. If 1 put mj- hand into 

 the cage he does not altogether approve, but when I 

 remove it he commences his curious call notes, and 

 seems to be telling one that he did not really mind, and 

 was only in play ! 



'■ He has a most uncommon voice, unlike any other of 

 the Parrot tribe that I have ever heard, a kind of 

 shrill, yet not uumelodious, crowing. 



" Intelligent? Well, yes, decidedly, in his own way. 

 He cannot speak, and he will sit quite still for a long 

 time in meditative moods, but he knows what's what, 

 and is, I am sure, a beggar to think ! 



" He won the first prize in his class at the Crystal 

 Palace Show this year, and in my humble opinion, as 

 well as in that of others, he deserved the special prize 

 for the rarest bird in the exhibition, for he was also in 

 perfect condition and health, and I doubt if many, if 

 any, aviculturists knew what he was at first sight, 

 which one could not say of any of the other foreigners, 

 and that is a fairly good tes't of rarity. Jlr. Seth- 

 Smith saw him last summer, and could not at all say 

 what he was, or from whence he came. 



" This bird is quite well and happy on canary seed, 

 a little fruit, and green food ; and he loves his bath. 

 Had I more time and fewer birds, I believe I could 

 malce him finger-tame. 



" He did not arrive in England, but was 'made in 

 Germany,' at any rate he put in his appearance in the 

 Hamburg docks, and was recommended to me bv that 

 great and courteous dealer in all that is wonderful, 

 Hen- Carl Hagenbeck. That was two years ago, and 

 the little Parrot shows every sign of go"ing happily on 

 for some time yet. 



" Let us hope so ! " 



Red-capped Parrot (Pionopsittacus pihatus.) 



Green ; bend to front edge of wing, bastard-wing, 

 primary-coverts, and flights deep blue; outermost 

 primaries (excepting the first) and secondaries with 

 green edges to outer webs; tail deep blue, the central 

 ones green, excepting along the middle and at the 

 tips, the other feathers with green outer edges ; crown, 

 lores, and a narrow band below the eyes to the upper 

 ear-coverts, red ; abdomen and under tail-coverts tinged 

 with yellowish; under wing-coverts bluish-green, the 

 greater ones and inner webs of flights below verditer- 



blue ; tail below verditer-green, bluer towards tips of 

 feathers ; beak bluish-grey, whitish at tip ; feet 

 blackish-grey ; irides brownish-grey. Female with a 

 blue wash on the forehead, the crown olivaceous-green; 

 no red on the head, excepting a small longitudinal dash 

 across the forehead ; beak rather smaller and broader. 

 Hab., South-Eastern Brazil and Paraguay, 



Burmeister says (" Systematische Uebersicht " II,, 

 p. 195) : — " This beautiful Parrot is not rare in the 

 forest region of the coast of Brazil from Rio de 

 Janeiro to Bahia, It lives less socially than the 

 succeeding smaller species, and first assembles in great 

 flocks in the cold time of the year (May to September). 

 In its manner of life it does not differ from the general 

 habit of the Parrots." 



Herr H. von Ihering, in his " Ornithological Notes " 

 from South Brazil [The Ibis, 1901, p. 14), says of the 

 nest of this Parrot : " This nest was also in the hollow 

 of a tree with the aperture far above. The eggs are of 

 rounded form, not polished, measuring 26 by 22 — 

 22.5 mm." 



This Parrot was first exhibited in the London 

 Zoological Society's Gardens at Regent's Park in 1877. 

 A second specimen was purchased in 1883, and a pair 

 about 1894 or 1895. Russ says (" Handbuch," p. 229) : 

 — " Beloved, because beautiful, pleasing, gentle, and 

 peaceable, vigorous, and enduring. Unhappily rare and 

 generally imported singly. In the birdroom it always 

 roosts on the highest branches, yet is not a little fool; 

 does not scream unpleasantly, its cry is only sharp and 

 penetrating when one is close to it. JIale and female 

 prattle in a pleasant twittering, like the Singing and 

 Undulated Parrakeets; soon tame and confiding. Price 

 20 to 30 marks for the pair," 



About 1904 ilr, F. C. Thorpe, of Hull, imported a 

 few specimens, and in October of that year a male was 

 exhibited at the Cryftal Palace. In The Avicultural 

 Magazine, Second Series, Vol. III., pp. 351, 352, the 

 Rev. Hubert D. Astley published a short account of a 

 male in his possession, the article being illustrated by a 

 beautiful coloured plate, by Goodchild. 



Black-headkd Caique {Caica melanocephala). 



Above green ; an orange-reddish collar, edged above 

 and below by some bluish feathers, on the hind-neck ; 

 front edge of wing partly yellow ; primary-coverts and 

 primaries black, with deep blue outer webs, edged with 

 green ; tail edged with yellow at tip ; crown black ; 

 cheeks and throat yellow ; breast and abdomen whitish- 

 cream colour ; sides of breast, axillaries, flanks, and 

 thighs orange-yellow ; under tail-coverts yellower 

 greater under wing-coverts and flights below black 

 tail below brown, with a golden sheen ; beak horn-black 

 feet and orbital skin-black; irides brown internally 

 with an outer ring of red. Female with the beak 

 narrower, and rather longer than that of the male when 

 viewed from above, Hab., Guiana and Upper Amazons 

 to the Rio Negro, and perhaps Bogota. 



According to C. A. Lloyd (" Timehri," New Series, 

 Vol. IX., p. 270) this species " nests in holes high up 

 in the trunks of trees." 



The London Zoological Society purchased this species 

 in 1855, and since that date has owned a good many 

 specimens, the last two recorded in the ninth edition of 

 the list being deposited in 1893. Yet Russ ("Hand- 

 buch," p. 232) says it is "Very rare. A male in the 

 possession of Mr. E. von Schlechtendal played comically, 

 at the same time uttering a screeching whistle ; it was 

 bold, but unfriendly." 



