TANAGERS. 



81 



of green joining that on sides of head; a broad black 

 gorget narrowing on sides of neck and almost joining 

 the black of the back; breast and front of abdomen 

 silvery blue, gradually deepening behind into rich pur- 

 plish ultramarine; under surface of wings and tail 

 slaty-blackish ; bill black, feet blackish ; irides brown. 

 Female with all the green colouring, especially on the 

 head and nape considerably bluer; the feathers on the 

 nape generally showing more of their black bases ; the 

 lower back and rump (when birds of equal age are com- 

 pared) considerably more golden, less orange; the bill 

 shorter, less tapered. Habitat, Province of Pernambuco. 



When collecting at Pernambuco Mr. W. A. Forbes 

 only twice met with this bird a female which he shot 

 and a second specimen which he recognised by its 

 orange rump at the top of a large tree ; a third was 

 brought to him whilst he was staying at Oabo. No 

 facts respecting the wild life seem to have been made 

 known, excepting that it frequents the tops of tall 

 trees and only descends to a lower level to feed upon 

 sweet fruits and to nest. 



From a study of the Superb Tanager in captivity we 

 are able to add that the call-note of this bird is a 

 shrill excited chirp, sometimes repeated several times 

 in succession, -usually when flitting from perch to perch 

 or running on a ledge and shuffling its wings like an 

 Accentor. Its ordinary song is harsh and Weaver-like, 



THE SUPERB TANAGER. 



but when first arousing in the early morning it some- 

 times sings a very pretty little reedy song, recalling 

 that of the Indigo Bunting. 



I purchased my first specimen of this lovely bird on 

 May 28th, 1897, and lost it on December 12th, 1898; 

 as food it received some of my regular soft mixture, half 

 an orange, and a third of a banana daily. In the 

 summer it ate most orange, and in the winter all the 

 banana, or nearly so. It usually began its meal by 

 selecting a piece of bread (of which it was very fond) 

 from the mixture, and flying to a perch to eat it. Then 

 it hud a bite at the orange, sometimes a piece of banana, 

 and a fragment of egg ; but it ate very little at a 

 time, and was anything but a greedy bird. It was, how- 

 ever, very fond of dried ants' cocoons, though not always 

 keen on mealworms. It much preferred spiders, as do 

 all insectivorous birds. 



The year following its death, on March lst : and in 

 April I purchased half a dozen, several of which were 

 unhappily not in a very healthy condition ; of these 

 one died in May, one in June, the other four lived well 

 into 1900, but only one of them survived until near the 

 end of September, 1901 ; unless they all had the germs 

 of disease in them when purchased, I see no reason, why 

 they should not have lived for many years. 



When freshly imported this sipecies is usually in 



roug ! h plumage ; he should be extremely wild and 

 nervous if in good health. The feathering, however, 

 is soon replaced. With the first moult the last trace 

 of wildness disappears, and the bird becomes friendly 

 and absolutely without a flaw ; at least that is my 

 experience. 



A cage of two feet cubic measure is none too large 

 for a Superb Tanager. and if thus housed, regularly fed 

 every day, and provided with a good-sized bath, it will 

 soon becoime a revelation of beauty such as the cabinet 

 naturalist has never even dreamed of. 



In my younger days these charming birds were con- 

 fined in small cages, such as would generally be con- 

 sidered suitable for a Canary ; so that, having no space 

 for exercise, no chance of getting away from their more 

 or less sticky food, and no bath, they soon became 

 grubby, draggled, unhealthy, and naturally died so 

 quickly that the late Dr. R-uss and others regarded them 

 as dirty, greedy, and extremeily delicate ; such, how- 

 ever, is far from being the case when they are properly 

 looked after. I have sometimes thought that my Superb 

 Tanagers would have lived longer if not encouraged to 

 eait bread, but then my Scarlet Tanageis have had it 

 also, and have never suffered in consequence. 



THREE-COLOURED TANAGER (Calliste tricolor). 

 Male above shining golden green ; crown greenisii- 

 blue ; forehead and upper back black ; lower back deep 

 cadmium yellow or golden orange ; wings black ; bencl 

 of wing, false wing, and broad tips to primary and 

 outer secondary coverts purplish-blue ; primaries nar- 

 rowly edged with bluish green ; secondaries broadly 

 edged with golden green ; tail-feathers black, edged 

 with bluish green ; chin broadly bluish green, followed 

 on throat by a broad black patch united by a narrow 

 black stripe to the black of upper back ; breast and 

 front of abdomen smalt blue ; flanks, lower abdomen, 

 and under tail-coverts golden green ; under surface oi 

 wings below brownish ashy ; under surface of tail 

 bluish ashy ; bill black ; feet blackish ; irides brown. 

 Female similar, but duller in colouring, the back more 

 or less spotted with green ; the bend of the wing 

 greener. Habitat, S.E. Brazil, provinces of Bahia, 

 Rio, Sao Paulo, and Goyaz. (Sclater.) 



Burmeister observes that this species, " like the 

 preceding, lives in small troops in thick forest, whence 

 from, time to time its short call-notes may be heard, 

 but otherwise it does not reveal itself. The bird is 

 not particularly shy, and even comes into the gardens 

 of the settlers." (" Syst. Ueb." III., p. 187.) 



Euler says that " its nest was situated exclusively on 

 banana trees ; sometimes between the leaf-stalk and 

 the stock, sometimes between the unripe fruits of the 

 depending fruit-clusters, or even on the sliced flatness 

 of a stock which has been cut off. The outer wall of 

 the nesit is constructed of flower-stalks and grasses, 

 the egg-cavity of reed and other broad smooth leaves ; 

 the latter is lined at the bottom with delicate grass- 

 stalks and hairs. On the outside, especially below, a 

 decoration of dry leaves, strips of bark and bast, as 

 well as flicks of cotton ; moss is entirely absent. Dia- 

 meter of the cup 8-9 cm., height 7 cm. ; diameter of 

 the cavity 7 cm., depth 3.5 cm. The clutches consist 

 of from two to three eggs, which are pale flesh-coloured 

 and sprinkled densely with darker spots ; upon this 

 general marking are, at almost equal distances apart, 

 about a dozen broad larger yellow-brown splashes, 

 which are rendered conspicuous by fine black scrawled 

 lines. Length 20 mm., breadth 10 mm." (J.F.O., 1867. 

 p. 410; cf. Russ, "FremdL Stubenv.," II., p. 446.) 



Dr. Russ says that this is one of the rarest Tanagers 

 in the German bird-market ; that a specimen was once 

 exhibited at the Hamburg Zoological Gardens, and in 



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