76 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



edged with green ; under surface bright yellow ; under 

 wing-coverts and inner 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 nape and rump, the back brownish 

 olivaceous; the under surface yellowish green. Habitat, 

 S.E. Brazil. 



Nothing appear to be known respecting the wild life 

 -of this beautiful bird ; indeed, excepting for Hudson's 

 notes in "The Birds of the Argentine Republic" the 

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

 liberty are widely scattered. Whether it is that 

 students of South American birdiskins- have been utterly 

 apathetic with regard to living birds, and therefore 

 have not asked their collectors to note the wild life 

 of the birds which they have 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 remarkably little information respecting the life 

 'history of Peruvian birds. 



The London Zoological Gardens received this Tanager 

 in 1875 and 1876, and again in 1895 ; Miss Hagenbeck 

 received several examples in 1881, and Russ obtained 

 one from Fockelmann ; Mrs. Darviot received a pair 

 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 have received the foolish and' misleading 

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

 known. Dr. Russ' name 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 TANAGER (Euphonia musica). 



Crown blue, with a broad frontal yellow band 

 bordered behind by a black line ; nape and back, wings 

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

 and under surface of body orange-yellow ; throat shining 

 black; axillaries pale yellow; under wing-coverte 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 im- 

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

 Zoological Gardens of Amsterdam. 



BLAOK-KECKED TANAGEH (EupTioma nigricollis). 



The male nearly resembles that sex of the preceding 

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

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

 ^shy; feet pale brown; irides dark. The female is 

 olive green with blue crown and chestnut forehead ; the 

 P 11 ? 1 ? Paler than the back ; below yellowish olivaceous 

 brighter on the abdomen. Habitat, South America 

 from Colombia to Paraguay and Central Peru. 



Mangelsdorff expresses his belief that this 'bird in- 

 .nabite flat, hot mountainous country, because on his 

 return journey 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 stock of bananas went rotten, and so, for want of 

 the necessary food, the birds died. 



Walter GoodfeUow (The Ibis, 1901, p. 459) says: 

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

 *o the highest trees." 



E. nigricollis occurs on the mountain of Roraima 



(British Guiana), at a height of 3,500 feet, 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., HI., p. 193). The London Gardens re- 

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

 rare in the bird-market. 



CHESTNUT-FRONTED TANAGER (Euphonia elegantissima). 



"Above dark glossy purplish black; cap 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 wing-feathers white ; bill black ; feet pale brown ; 

 wjiole length 4.5 inches, wing 2.5, tail 1.5. Female. 

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

 yellowish olive, brighter in the middle of the belly; 

 throat pale red. Habitat, Southern Mexico and Central 

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

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



According to Russ, the traveller A. von Frantzius 

 reported that this species occurred abundantly in the 

 vicinity of 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 

 bell-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 this statement, which 

 Brehm enunciated in January, 1873, there must be a 

 great error, inasmuch as the song of the Textor is de- 

 scribed in my ' Handbuch fur 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 this species, but in the latter case only a single 

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

 it is not noted as having reached any Zoological 

 Gardens. 



GOLD-FRONTED TANAGER {Euphonia flavifrons). 



Dark olive-green ; forehead broadly yellow, bounded 

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

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

 yellowish ; axillaries pale yellow ; under wing-covert 

 and inner edges of wing-feathers whitish; bill dark 

 leaden-grey ; feet brown. Female rather paler, but 

 otherwise similar. Habitat, Lesser Antilles. 



I am unable to discover any notes whatever respect- 

 ing the wild life of this Tanager. 



Two sipecimens of E. flavlfrans from Dominica were 

 presented to the London Zoological Gardens in May, 

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

 instances of its importation. 



GREENISH TANAGER (Euphonia chlorotica). 

 Above purplish-black ; forehead to middle of crown 

 yellow; below yellow with the throat purplish-black; 

 wings below black with a large white patch 



