78 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



on the inner webs of the flights ; tail below 

 black, a large white patch on the inner webs 

 of the two outermost feathers ; bill and feet black. 

 Female above grey-green, the front and rumip yellower ; 

 below also yellower, ashy at centre of breast and 

 abdomen ; flanks and under tail-coverts pale yellow ; 

 under wing-coverts and inner margins of wing-feathers 

 whitish. Habitat, Guiana. Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, 

 and Eastern Peru ; the Guianan form being typical, the 

 others being subdivided into two or three local races 

 or sub-species. 



Respecting this species also I have found no notes 

 -on the life-history. The Zoological Society purchased 

 a male in August, 1892. The name appears to me mis- 

 leading ; it applies better to the female than the male. 



DWARF TANAGER (Euphonia minuta). 



Glossy greenish black, purplish, on neck and upper 

 back ; a broad yellow frontal band ; throat purplish 

 black ; breast and front of abdomen yellow ; hinder 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; under wing- 

 coverts and inner webs of flights white; tail below 

 "black { the inner webs of three outer feathers with a. 

 conspicuous white patch ; bill leaden grey ; feet black. 

 Temale above olive-green, below yellowish olive ; throat 

 and centre of abdomen ashy white. Habitat, Guiana, 

 Lower Amazonia, Colombia. Panama, and Central 

 America up to Guatemala. (Sclater.) 



I can discover nothing respecting the wild life of this 

 little Tanager. Captain Pam brought home a pair from 

 Venezuela in 1906 and presented them to the London 

 'Zoological Society. 



VIOLET TANAGER (EupJwnia riolacea). 



Above, forehead and front of the crown bright yellow ; 

 the cheeks, back of neck, back, wings, and tail purplish 

 'blue-black ; the under surface bright yellow, the legs 

 and beak black, the upper mandible produced into a 

 curved point; iris of eye hazel. Female above o-live- 

 green, below yellowish olive ; wing-feathers white at 

 'base of inner webs. Habitat, Guiana, Trinidad, Lower 

 Amazonia, and S.E. Brazil. According to Burmeister 

 an inhabitant of the whole forest region of Brazil ; he 

 says that he found it abundantly at New Freiburg, as 

 the bird is nowhere rare, and yet he gives no information 

 respecting its habits. Mr. W. A. Forbes (The Ibis, 1881, 

 p. 331) says that he found it sparingly both in gardens 

 and in the vicinity of high forest, and he adds: 

 " This bird is kept commonly as a cage-bird bv the 

 "Brazilians, who call it 'Guarratan,' a name, as already 

 observed, ailso applied to several other small brightly 

 plnmaged birds." 



Pviitss, quoting apparently from Mangelsdorff. though 

 he does not say so, observes: "In freedom the little 

 Mrd is uncommonly lively and quick : sometimes when 

 flying, and if it is leapintr about on the fruit-trees one 

 mnv bear its short tuneful call-note. Its food consists 

 of all kinds of fruit, and should the ' Organists '* after 

 "the breeding-season unite into flights or swarms they 

 are capable of accomplishing considerable damage to 

 'banana, orange, and other like fruit-trees, inasmuch as 

 they are voracious feeders. The nest is formed in a 

 dense thicket, or in a tangle of creepers, usually large 

 and not very neatly, of grass-stalks, fibres, fine tendrils 

 nnd tufts of cotton, and. lined with delicate stalks. The 

 clutch consists of three to five beautifully coloured and 

 mnrked very thin-ehelled eggs." (Fremdl. Stubenv., II., 

 p. 434.) 



The colouring of the eggs is not mentioned ; but there 

 is a long quotation from Mangelsdorff respecting the 



* German trivial name for all the Euphonice. 



wild foods of the bird, its charming song and power of 

 mimicking the songs of other birds. 



In captivity this Tanager is tolerably amiable, and, 

 according to the late Mr. Abrahams, '' a magnificent 

 songster." Of this I can say nothing, inasmuch as 

 although in 1897 I had the opportunity of purchasing 

 this pretty little bird at a fairly reasonable price (that 

 is, about d'ouble the usual German charge for the species), 

 I already possessed the far more beautiful Superb 

 Tanager, and therefore was not tempted to undertake 

 another fruit-eating cage-bird ; but it seems to me 

 hardly likely that the generic name of Eupfionia 

 (" pleasant .sounding ") would have been given to a group 

 of birds unless at least some of them were known to 

 warble sweetly. The evidence of various owners of this 

 bird varies somewhat as to the merit of its song, but 

 we well know that individual's of a species differ con- 

 siderably in talent. 



THICK-BILLED TANAGER (Euphonia laniirostris). 



Glossy blue-black, frontal half of head, extending to 

 behind the eyes and rounded at back, as well as under 

 surface of body, bright yellow ; wingis below black, with 

 a large basal white patch on the inner webs of the 

 feathers ; tail below black, with a large white patch, not 

 quite extending to the tips, on the inner webs of the 

 two outer feathers ; bill and feet black. Fema/le above 

 olive-green, below yellowish green, brighter on middle 

 of abdomen and under tail-coverte. Habitat, Costa 

 Rica, Veragua, Panama. Colombia, Venezuela, Upper 

 Amazonia, Peru, and Bolivia. 



I have no notes as. to the wild life of the species, 

 but it would doubtless greatly resemble that of the 

 Violet Tanager; with which, according to RUS.S, it has 

 certainly been confounded by dealers. He says that in 

 1893 the wholesale dealer E. Reiohe sent three examples 

 to him for identification j they were not, however, in 

 full adult colouring, and so he could not at first nmke 

 anything of them; later he identified them at the 

 Zoologica.l Museum of Berlin. Apparently he kept a 

 patir of these birds, which, before six months had passed, 

 went to nest, but without result. 



This species was obtained by the London Zoological 

 Society in 1872, 1878, 1879, 1890, 1892. and 1906. 



PECTORAL TANAGER (Euphonia pect&ralis). 



Above glossy blue-black ; throat and breast the same 

 colour ; the latter with a yellow paitch on each side ; 

 abdomen deep chestnut; wings below black with white 

 coverts ; tail below black ; bill black ; feet dark brown. 

 Female above bright olive-green with a large dark grey 

 patch on the nape ; below, throat and breast grev ; sides 

 of breast and abdomen olive-green ; under tail-coverts 

 clear rufous. Habitat, Wood-region of S.E. Brazil 

 (Sclater). Burmeister only tells us that this bird "has 

 its home in the entire wooded region of Brazil, and is 

 7vowhere rare." Mangelsdorff says that it loves the 

 forest, but occurs everywhere else like the Violet 

 Tanager, and that its wild life is similar. 



Ruiss says that in 1875 he received a male from Miss 

 Hagenbeck, of Hamburg, .and in the same year it 

 reached the London Zooilogical Gardens. Paul Mangels- 

 dorff in 1889 brought home a male from Brazil, but it 

 shortly afterwards died ; whether it has since appeared 

 in the market I am unable to say. 



BLACK-BELLIED TANAGER (Euphonia cayana}. 



Glossy biuish-Mack, with a yellow patch on each side 

 of the breast ; under wing-coverts and inner margins 

 of flights white; bill black; feet dark brown. Female 

 above bright greenish olive, with a dark grev patch 

 on the nape ; below grey ; chin and sides of body below 



