76 



FOREIQN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



edged with green ; under surface bright yellow ; under 

 wing-coverts and innei margins of wing-feathers white; 

 bill dark leaden grey ; feet bluish flesh-brown ; irides 

 brown. Female with the blue of the upper surface 

 confined to the napi- and rump, the back brownish 

 olivaceous; tlie under surface yellowish green. Habitat, 

 S.E. Brazil. 



Nothing appears to be known respecting the wild life 

 of this beautiful bird ; mdeed, excepting for Hudson's 

 notes in "The Birds of the Argentine Republic" the 

 few records of tbe habits of S. American birds when at 

 liberty are widely sc-;>tteTe<l. Whethe,r it is that 

 .students of South American birdskins have been utterly 

 apathetic with regard to living birds, and therefore 

 have not asked their ccllectors to note the wild life 

 of the birds which they h;ive shot, one cannot tell ; but 

 it is a fact that most of the papers published by great 

 students of tropical American birds are of no interest, 

 excepting to the cabinet naturalist ; even Taczanowski 

 in his three-volume work on the ornithology of Peru 

 gives remark.ibly little information respecting the life 

 history of Peruvian birds. 



The London Zoological Gardens received this Tanager 

 in 1875 and 1876. !uid again in 1895 ; Miss Hagenbeck 

 received several e.xamples in 1881, and Russ obtained 

 one from Fockelmann ; Miis. Darviot received a p;i.ir 

 in 1888, and various aviculturists in this country have 

 from time to time had examples. 



Why a bird which is blue, green, black, yellow, and 

 white should h:ive received the foolish and misleading 

 name of -Ml-green Tanager will, I suppose, never be 

 known. Dr. Russ' niuiis for it, " Blue-naped," would 

 be far more appropriate, but I suppose if I had 

 adopted it I should have been called to account, as I 

 have been for altering other absurd names. 



yELLOW-FRONTED T-VXAGER (Evjjhonia viusica). 



Crown blue, with a broad frontal yellow band 

 bordered behind by a black line ; nape and bock, vdngs 

 and tail purplish-black ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 and under surface of body orange-yellow ; throat shining 

 black ; axillaries pale yellow ; under wing-coverts and 

 inner margins of wing-feathers white ; bill and feet 

 black. Female olive green with blue crown and yellow- 

 tinged front ; below yellowish olivaceous. Habitat, San 

 Domingo, 



I can discover no field-notes relating to this species. 

 Apparently only one example hitherto has been inv 

 ported, and thit was in 1871; it was sent to the 

 Zoological Gardens of Amsterdam, 



Black-necked Tanager (Euphonia nigricollis). 



The male nearly resembles that sex of the preceding 

 species, hut has a black frontal band, and the nape as 

 well as crown blue; the inner margins of wing-feathers 

 a^hy ; feet p.ile brown; irides dark. The female is 

 olive green with lilue crown and chestnut forehead; the 

 rump paler than the back ; below yellowish olivaceous, 

 brighter on the abdomen. Habitat, South America 

 from Coloml)ia to Paraguay and Central Peru. 



Mangolsdorff expresses his belief that this bird in- 

 habits flat, hot mountainous country, because on his 

 return joumey he was able to secure an entire dozen 

 of these birds in the markets of Rio and Bahia ; he, 

 however, failed to bring home any of them alive, as 

 his .<ito3k of bananas went rotten, and so, for want of 

 the necessary food, the birds died. 



Walter Goodfellow {The Jbh, 1901, p. 459) says :— 

 " They are generally met with in small flocks, and keep 

 to the highest trees." 



E. nlgricollis occurs on the mountain of Roraima 



(British Guiana), at a height of 3,500 leet, according 

 to Mr. Henry Whitely (cf. The Ibis, 1885, p. 208). 



Burmeister says that it occurs in the forests of the 

 southern and eastern districts of Brazil, and thence 

 down to Paraguay up to the foot of the Cordilleras 

 (Syst. Uebers., Ill,, p, 193). The London Gardens re- 

 ceived this bird in 1866, 1892, and 1895; but it is very 

 rare in the bird-market. 



Chestnut-fhonied Tanager (Euphonia ehyantUsima). 

 " Above dark glos.sy purplish black ; ca]> and nape 

 blue ; narrow front, dark chestnut, bordered posteriorly 

 by a narrow black line ; below deep brownish orange 

 red, throat black; under wing-coverts and inner edges 

 of wini»-fealhers white; bill black; feet pale brown; 

 whole length 4.5 inch&s, wing 2.5, tail 1,5, Female. — 

 Aliove, olive-green, cap blue; front chestnut; below 

 yellowish olive, brighter in the middle of the belly; 

 throiit p:de red. Habitat, Southern Mexico and Central 

 America down to Panama." (P. L. Sclater, " Cat. 

 Birds," Vol. XL, p. 62.) 



According to Jluss, the traveller A. von Frantzius 

 reported that this species occurred abundantly in the 

 vicinity cf San Jose in Costa Rica. " Here the young 

 birds especially are caught by boys in July and August, 

 brought for sale, and kept in cages for the sake of their 

 song. They are then fed almost wholly upon ripe 

 Pisang-fruits. When at liberty one finds them in clear 

 spaces and upon withered trees, where they devour the 

 fruit of a parasitical plant resembling our mistletoe." 

 "It must be just this species which, according to the 

 statements of A. E. Brehm, to his surprise uttered no 

 liell like sound, as Schomburgk describes, but a really 

 charming varied song, and was at the same time a most 

 industrious songster. In verity one may if one pleases 

 best compare the song of this bird with that of the 

 Black-headed Weaver or Textor. The song consists of 

 a number of isolated sounds which are connected to- 

 gether by creaking and buzzing, of which a continuous 

 whole is formed, not unpleasing in itself, while at the 

 same time very peculiar. In tliis statement, which 

 Brel.ni enunciated in January. 1873, there must be a 

 gi'eat error, ina.^'imuch as the song of the Textor is de- 

 scribed in my ' Haudbuch fiir Vogelliebhaber,' as also 

 in all other reliable works, as -consisting of chirping, 

 snarling, hissing, and cackling sounds, and is neither 

 more nor less than unpleasing," — Russ, " Fremdl. 

 Stubenv." II., pp. 441-2. 



It appears that formerly both Brehm and Russ re- 

 ceived tins species, but in the latter cafe only a single 

 example of the male, obtained from Lintz, of Hamburg ; 

 it is not noted as having reached any Zoologiiil 

 Gardens, 



Gold-fronted Tanager {Euphonia Havifmnt). 

 Dark olive-green ; forehead bio.idly yellow, bounded 

 at back by a bhick line ; crown and nape blue ; under 

 parts olive-green, sides of head darker ; the throat 

 .yellowish ; axillaries pal-? yellow ; under wing-coverts 

 and inner edges of wing-featlier.-i wdiitish ; bill dark 

 1-,'aden-grey ; feet broivn. Female rather paler, but 

 otherwise "similar. Habitat, Lesser Antilles. 



I am unable to discover any notes whatever res|>ect- 

 ing the wild life of this Tanager. 



Two specimens of E. flavifrons from Dominica were 

 presented to the Ix)ndon Zoological Gardens in May, 

 1889, by Mrs. Herbert, but I am not aware of any other 

 instances of its imjwrtation. 



Greenish Tanager {Euphonia chlorolica). 

 Above pui-plish-black ; forehead to middle of crown 

 yellow; below .yellow with the throat purpl ish- black ; 

 wings below black with a large white patch 



