Practical Bird-Keeping ,— VII. Tanagers. 345


to follow no rule, but to try different things in the way of food

and fruit, and you will soon see what it likes and what seems to

suit it the best.


While I am on the subject of buying I may say I have

found it the best plan not to go for the bird in the best condition,

with regard to feather. A bird just come over in a large consign¬

ment, that has a bright eye and a fairly plump chest, though he

may not have a whole feather on him, is very often worth six

birds that are in apparently perfect plumage but have breastbones

like a knife edge. Again I would much rather be in time to buy

a Tanager in the dirty' state it arrives in, it is so much better to

get it like that, before anybody has had time to try and clean it

up for sale. I do not like my birds to be dry' cleaned.


Having bought the bird 1 get it home as quickly as

possible, put it in a cage by' itself, give it some slightly tepid

water, sometimes with a little port in it, if the bird seems run

down and a choice of fruit and some insectivorous food, and keep

it as quiet as possible, only' watching to see that it finds its way

to the water, etc. I keep it like this, away from all other birds,

for a fortnight or more, according to its condition ; when it has a

clean bill of health, I take it up in the birdroom and look round

for a suitable companion for it, this is a difficult task, as there is

always a great uncertainty' as to what birds will agree together,

but I think it is better to have two birds together, if you have a

large enough cage, it promotes exercise and stops over-feeding.

With two Tanagers in one cage, if one of them is over fond, say of

ants’ cocoons, the other will probably prevent him from picking

them all out of the food at once, and he in his turn will perhaps

prevent the other from eating half an orange, or banana, at a

sitting, as some Tanagers seem to want to do. One of the

greatest things to guard against with Tanagers is their getting

too fat and it is sometimes very difficult to see this in time,

because sometimes a fat bird will hold himself so sleek and trim,

that he looks slimmer than a thin bird, who does the reverse; so

the great secret is to keep a careful eye on them and directly you

see anything wrong with the eye, or breathing, or any signs of

diarrhoea, or constipation, you must take steps at once and make

a radical change in the food, and perhaps give a dose of Epsom



