SUGAR-BIRDS. 



73 



nests of the little ' Sugar-eater,' which I think is 

 Cceielia cyania." But he does not describe either nest 

 or eggs. . , , 



In a notice of Nehrkorn's Catalogue of his Egg-collec- 

 tion {The /fci-s 1899, p. 462) is the following remark: 

 "Among the special rarities of the collection we observe 

 eg^s of ('(en ha ci/anca from Amazonia (of an almost 

 uniform black)"; but H. von Jhering (The Ibis. 1901, 

 p. 14) says: " Nchrkorn says that the egg of Civiiha 

 cyanca is" black, and Allen (quoting Smith) says that 

 it is white, with fine re<ldish sihHs. The description 

 of Allen is in harmony with my specimens of the eggs of 

 Uticiiis cai/aiia and with Euler's account of those of 

 Certh iolu rhloropi/(/a." 



After wading throuiih about fiftv volumes, this is all 

 the information wliich I have been able to bring 

 together re.spetting the wild life of one of the most 

 charming, abundant and widely distributed of American 

 birds.* 



Dr. Kuss states that the male assumes female plumage 

 in the winter ; and Mr. Frank Finn has remarked ujxin 

 the seasonal changes in this specie-. 

 ("Jonrn. Asiat. Soc. Beng.," 

 LXVII,, pt. ll.,p. 64.) 



About sixty head of this species 

 were purchased in New York in 1873 

 and brought into the German bird 

 market, where they fetched about 

 24 marks apiece. Previous to that 

 date isolated examples had been re- 

 ceived. 



All the hens, with the exception 

 of one posses.sed by a Mr. Heer, 

 quiikly died ; hut this specimen 

 lived for over two years. They were 

 fed upon a mixture of finely grated 

 sweet almonds (from which the skins 

 had previously been caiefully removed 

 by scraping with the finger-nails), 

 crushed biscuit, and white sugar. 

 Most of tlie examples are supposed 

 to have died owing to their having 

 been fed upon Nightingale food — 

 yolk of egg, curd cheese, fruit, etc. 



From time to time examples of 

 this lovely species appear in the 

 bird-market, and are generally 

 snapjied up by bird-exhibitors ; if treated like Tanagers, 

 that is to cidy, provided with a good insectivorous food 

 and plenty of ripe soft fruit, I believe therei is no dif- 

 ficulty in keeping thei;i in good health and condition. 

 PXTRPLK SlTGAR-BiRD (Coereha cceruho). 



Male purplish blue, with the wings, tail, lores, throat 

 and under wing-coverts black. Female above dark 

 green ; lores rufous ; below pale vellowish, striated 

 •\vith dark green ; throat rufous : bill blackish ; feet 

 brown ; irides dark. Habitat, Colombia southwai-d to 

 Amazonia, Eastern Peru, and Bolivia. 



I have not come across any notes on the wild life 

 ■of this species, excepting that Salmon states that its 

 food consists of insects. Capt. Pam secured two speci- 

 mens for the London Zoological Gardens in 1905, and 

 therefore it seems better to mention it. Of course, it 

 should be fed like other Sugar-birds and Tanagers, for 

 it is not likely that, even in its wild state, it lives upon 

 insects only. 



Black-headed Sugar-bird {CMorop/ianes spiza). 

 Upper surface bright shining green, slightly tinged 

 * Th:eneniann, hoiverer, eaj-s that the nest rasembles that of 

 the European Whitethroat. being constnict<><i eiternally of root 

 fibres of an orchis, the interior being n<3atl.v, but transparentlv, 

 lined with ha.ir-like dark slender grass stems; a little cobweb 

 both outside and in. 



with bluisli ; wing and tail feathers blackish with green 

 margins ; crown and sides of head black ; under surface 

 slightly bluer green than the upper parts ; beak yellow, 

 the culmen broadly black ; feet black-brown ; irides 

 dark brmvn. Female grass-green ; paler in the centre 

 and sides below ; upper mandible blackish, lower 

 yellow; feet brown; aides brown. Habitat, Guate- 

 mala, southwards through Central and South America 

 to S.E. Brazil and Bolivia. 



Burineister iiays that " in the forest regions of Cen- 

 tral Brazil it affects open places at the borders of 

 woods, is not very shy, and like the following species 

 may be met with close to and even in the aardens of 

 ■the" settlers." (Syst. Uebcrs., Part III., p. 153.) 



Bartlett states that this bird is "abundant through- 

 out the country" in Easjtem Peru (Proc. Zool. Soc, 

 1873, p. 260). 



Mr. Walter Goodfellow {The Ihis, 1901, p. 319) 

 says : " These birds mostly frequent the banana planta- 

 tions, and by tying a bunch of the ripe fruit to one of 

 the trees we managed to get a great number of them." 



IHE Blue Sugar bird. 



Russ quotes a long statement by Paul Mangelsdorff 

 respet-ting his successes in traj^ping this bird in Brazil, 

 but it unfortunately adds nothing to our knowledge of 

 the life-hietory of the species. 



C. Hagenbeck first imported this Sugar-bird into 

 Germany in 1873, but the London Gardens had two 

 specimens as early as 1848 ; subsequently Bekemanns, of 

 Antwerp, on several occasions received single specimens. 

 Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria also in 1880 brought home 

 this species on his return from liis travels, but it seems 

 never to have been so freely imported as its relatives 

 Ccereba cijanfa and Dacnis caijana; yet one would 

 have supjxised that a bird with so tremendous a range 

 that it has been considered worth while to break it up 

 into several more or less doubtful sub-siiecies, and so 

 common that Paul Mangelsdorff caught ne;irly a dozen 

 with a trap-cage in less than a week, would have come 

 more frequently. Mr. E. W. Harper imported a hen 

 in 1907 which he priced at 50s., on account of its rarity 

 in the market. 



Blue Sugar-bird {Dacnis cai/ana). 



The colouring of the male is shining blue, very 

 slightly glossed with greenish ; the forehead, lores, 

 throat, mantle, and tail black; the wings black, edged 

 with blue, ashy underneath; the bill is black, the feet 

 reddish-brown, the iris brown. 



