TANAGERS. 



83 



the Yellow Tanagers, and also several specimens of the 

 Three-coloured, which were immediately purchased by 

 various Zoological Gardens. Mr. C. Ayr, of Maintz, 

 received the last specimen of the Yellow Tanager from 

 me in September, 1891.' In October, 1894, Mr. A. 

 Fockelmann again imported it." (" Fremdl. Stubenv." 

 II., p. 448.) 



Mr. L. W. Hawkins exhibited this species at the 

 Crystal Palace in 1903. 



BLACK-CHEEKED TANAGER (Calliste cayana): 



Shining ochre yellow ; crown coppery reddish ; sides 

 of head black; wings and tail blackish, edged with 

 bluish green ; throat dark bluish ; under wing-coverts 

 white ; bill bluish black ; feet brown, leaden according 

 to Taczanowski. Female duller in colouring, the 

 throat very slightly tinged with bluish. Habitat, 

 Cayenne, Guiana, Venezuela, Colombia, and E. Peru. 



Mr. Henry Whitely obtained this Tanager on the 

 Merume Mountains, Roraima, at from 3,500 to 4,000 

 feet. (The Ibis, 1885, p. 209.) 



Mr. W. L. S. Loat, writing upon the birds of 

 British Guiana, says that the pretty little Tanager 

 (Callisfe cayana) has a great fondness for the fruit of 

 the guava. (The Ibis, 1898, p. 565.) 



As Taczanowski says no word about the wild life of 

 this bird in his " Ornithologie du Perou," the above 

 meagre information is all that I have been able to get 

 together. 



This Tanager was not imported alive until 1907, 

 when Mr. E. W. Harper brought home a pair and 

 valued them at 7. 



CHESTNUT-BACKED TANAGER (Callistc pretiosa). 



"Above, whole head, neck, and middle of back dark 

 coppery chestnut ; wing-coverts and lower back bright 

 ochraoeous ; wings and tail black, edged with bluish; 

 below greenish blue, middle of belly brighter and more 

 bluish; loweir flanks, thighs, and crissum chestnut; 

 bill black ; feet brownish black ; whole length 6.3 

 inches, wing 3.3, tail 2.3. Female. Above dark green ; 

 wings and tail blackish, edged with green; head and 

 upper back suffused with coppery chestnut ; below paler 

 and Jess pure, middle of belly whitish ; crisisum tinged 

 with rufous. Habitat, Southern Brazil and Paraguay." 

 P. L. Sclater, "Cat, Birds," Vol. XI., pp. 114, 115. 



Mr. A. H. Holland obtained what Dr. Sclater ideniti- 

 fied as a young female of this species on the Estancia 

 Sta. Elena, Argentine Republic (see The Ibis, 1896, 

 p. 315) ; it was probably new to the fauna, as it does 

 not appear in Sclater and Hudson's work on the Repub- 

 lic. In The Ibis for 1899, we read that Mr. Holland 

 had again secured the species; this time a fully adult 

 male labelled, " Bill, legs, and iris black," p. 305. 



I can find no records of the wild life, but in The 

 Aricultural Magazine, 1st ser., Vol. IV., pp. 159-161, 

 Mr. Percy W. Farmborough gives an account of a speci- 

 men which he had in captivity for about three years. 

 It was kept in a box-cage of sensible dimensions 3 feet 

 6 inches long, 2 feet high, 20 inches from front to back. 

 Mr. FarmborO'Ugh supplied no regular soft food, but 

 merely a mixture of hard-boiled yolk of egg and ants' 

 eggs, with various fruits and insects with their larvae. 

 No doubt this was all that was necessary, for, as a 

 general rule, Tanagers eat very little soft food ; they 

 pick out the egg and perhaps a few ants' eggs, but for 

 the most part confine their attention to the orange or 

 pear and banana suppliedi to them, and any insects or 

 spiders that they can get. 



BLACK-SHOULDERED TANAGER (Calliste melanonota). 



Above, head and neck deep coppery chestnut ; upper 

 i>ack black ; lower back and wing-coverts bright 



octoreous ; wings and tail black, with narrow bluish 

 edges ; below greenish blue ; lower flanks and under 

 tail-coverts chestnut ; under wing-coverts white ; bill 

 and feet black-brown (Sclateir), feet brownish flesh- 

 coloured (Russ) ; irides brown. Female above dark 

 green, paler on rump , head and neck washed with 

 coppery chestnut; wings and tail blackish with green 

 edges ; under surface paler, middle of body whitish ; 

 under tail-coverts pale rufous. Habitat, S. Brazil and 

 Panama. 



As with many ether Tanagers I have been unable to 

 find any notes on the wild life. Dr. Russ says that 

 it first reached the London Zoological Gardens in 1873, 

 and subsequently in 1888 a traveller chanced to bring 

 it home. Mr. S. M. Townsend exhibited a specimen a* 

 the Crystal Palace in February, 1906, and again later 

 in the same year. 



LAVENDER-AND-BLACK TANAGER (Calliste brasiliensis). 



Above black, front of orown to above eyes (a narrow 

 frontal band excepted), sides of neck, wing-coverts, 

 edges of primaries, rump and upper tail-coverts clear 

 shining lavender ; neck and flanks varied with black ; 

 middle of abdomen, under wing and tail coverts white ; 

 bill black ; feet shining black-brown ; irides brown. 

 Female similar, but smaller, rather duller, the lavender 

 more confined to the tips of the feathers. Habitat, 

 S.E. Brazil. 



BurmeLster says that it is not rare in the forest 

 regions of Brazil, and Natterer met with it in the 

 forest in March on tolerably high trees, and found 

 fruit and seeds in the stomachs of those he shot. 



Russ speaks of this as one of the rarest birds in the 

 German bird market, but says that Carl Gudera, of 

 Vienna, and Heinrich Moller, of Hamburg, have each 

 on one occasion sent him examples for identification ; 

 it has been exhibited at the London Zoological Gardens. 



In the Zoological Society's List (ninth edition) tLis 

 species is called " Blue-and-black Tanager," the sa.ne 

 trivial name being given to Tanagrella cyanomelcena ; 

 Dr. Sclater also describes it as bright blue, whereas Dr. 

 Russ isays it is bluish violet. As a matter of fact it is 

 neither, but the purest lavender. If describers would 

 only try to call to mind the flowers after which many 

 colours are named they would be less likely to speak 

 incorrectly of them. The common cornflower is bright 

 blue, some pansies are bluish violet, but lavender is 

 neither one nor the other, it is a bluish relative of lilac 

 so far as its tint goes. 



YELLOW-BELLIED TANAGER (Calliste flaviventris). 



" Above black ; fore part of cap (except narrow front), 

 sides of head, margins of larger wing-coverts, and rump 

 bright blue ; smaller upper wing-coverts bright tur- 

 quoise blue, narrow outer margins of primaries bright 

 greenish blue ; below blue, varied on the throat and 

 flanks with black ; middle of abdomen and crissum pale 

 sulphur-yellow; under wing-coverts white; bill black; 

 feet dark brown ; whole length 5.4 inches., wing 2.7, 

 tail 1.8. Female like the male. Habitat, Lower 

 Amazonia, Cayenne, Guiana, Venezuela and Trinidad." 

 (P. L. Sc'later.) 



I have discovered no account of the wild life of this 

 species. Mr. E. W. Harper sent a specimen to the 

 London Zoological Gardens in 1906, but I do not know 

 of any other importations of this Tanager. 



.BLUE-WINGED TANAGER (Calliste cyanoptera). 



Above and below silvery green ; head and neck black ; 



wings black ; flights and tail-feathers edged with blue ; 



under wing-coverts white ; bill black ; feet brown. 



Female above green, brighter on the rump ; wing and 



