56 Practicai, Bird-Keeping. 



VII. 



TANAGERS. 



B}' S. M. TOWNSEND. 



To write an article on Tanagers! Wliat a tremendous 

 task ! A bird lover with a ready pen could fill volumes, it is such 

 a vast subject, but mine is an unread)' pen and now when I wish 

 to start, I cannot think what to write about. Besides now that I 

 have kept Tanagers some years I am beginning to know how 

 much I still have to learn about them. It is strange that the 

 beginner, or the person who has never kept a Tanager, always 

 has more confidence ; I, for instance, started with a Superb and 

 Violet, and if I had parted with them at the end of a few months, 

 and never kept another Tanager, I should have been ready to 

 agree that they were quite hard}'. 



Tanagers are most interesting birds to keep as pets, as 

 they are beautiful to look at and, in the majority of cases, very 

 intelligent and full of character. In all the years I have kept 

 them, I think I have only had one that never learned to know me 

 or take kindly to cage life, and though I do not look upon them 

 as hardy birds I think with careful treatment they can be kept to 

 a ripe old age. 



My experience of keeping them is only in cages, so I sup- 

 pose I ought not to criticise others, but it will take a great deal 

 to convince me that Calliste and some others can be kept out of 

 doors all the year round with impunity. Occasionally one hears 

 of a Superb wintering out of doors, but it is rare to hear of that 

 Superb having successfully moulted the following year, the 

 strain on its constitution having been too great, 



