in North-eastern Brazil. 333 



20. Tanagra palm arum. 



This Tanager is very abundant near the coast, and may be 

 seen in numbers quite close to Recife. In the interior it is 

 less common^ though I saw it once or twice near Macuca. 

 The specific name is very appropriate, as the bird frequents 

 the cocoanut-palms, flying in small flocks from one tree to 

 another, and settling about the root of the " crown," where 

 it probably finds abundant food in the shape of insects and 

 spiders. 

 -/ Eyes brown ; feet leaden grey. 



21. Ramphoccelus brasilius. 



I first met with this splendid bird on the road between 

 Iguarassu and Olinda, and subsequently found it abundantly, 

 in favourable situations, nearer Recife, as well as at Parahyba 

 and all along the line of railway as far as Catende. It seems, 

 however, an essentially low-country bird, and as the country 

 rises in the interior disappears. This bird goes about, like 

 several of the other Tanagers, in small parties, composed 

 chiefly of immature or female birds, so that the number of 

 those seen in the gorgeous crimson and black dress of the 

 adult male is comparatively small. It is always to be found 

 in the low bushes and vegetation that grow about the lower 

 slopes and bottoms of the valleys in the neighbourhood of 

 water, and is never, according to my observation, found in 

 gardens or the virgin forests. It has a quick, rather loud, 

 sharp, chirping note, of a single syllable, repeated several 

 times in sharp succession, which one soon gets to recognize. 

 The Brazilian name is " Sangre de Boi," i. e. ox^s blood, 

 from the brilliant crimson of the plumage of the male. 

 / Irides orange-brown. 



22. Tachyphonus melaleucus. 



This Tanager is widely spread over the province of Per- 

 nambuco, where I met with it at nearly all the places I 

 visited, from Caxanga to Garanhuns ; and I also obtained it 

 at Parahyba. It is usually seen singly or in pairs, the black 

 male with the chestnut female. The stomach of one I exa- 

 mined contained insects. 



Eyes brown. 



