86 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



utters harsh notes, but this is a libel ; the song is not 

 strikingly beautiful, but includes some bright, clear 

 notes. In The Avicvltural Magazine, 1st series, 

 Vol. IV., p. 188, I render it as follows : " Whip, whip, 

 whip, whip; tzi-inc. tzcivee, tzewee ; chf>. rim,, cheo, 

 cheo, cheo, cheo, cJic/> : tzerwi**, fzi'riri.--.--, tzi ////.>.< : 

 cheo, cheo, <-h<'i>. dun. <-hen, cheo, cheo." After all these 

 years I see no reason to alter this rendering. Mrs. 

 Musil. a German lady, who compared the song to that 

 of the European Robin, can have had no ear for music ; 

 the song remotely resembles that of the White-throated 

 Finch, but has not the least likeness to that of any of 

 the members of the sub-family Turd'nur. 



MAROON TANAGER (Rhamphoccelus jacapa). 



Velvety black washed with crimson ; head, neck, 

 throat and breast deep crimson, gradually shading into 

 black on the abdomen ; under wing-coverts black ; bill 

 black with a bluish grey patch at base of lower man- 

 dible ; feet black. Female brownish-black ; the face, 

 rump, and under surface of body rosy reddish ; bill 

 and feet brown. Habitat, Guiana, Venezuela, Trinidad, 

 Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Upper and Lower Amazons, 

 and Brazil (Sclatex). 



According to Burmeister, in old age there is a naked 

 patch caused by the dropping out of the feathers 

 between the eye and base of beak ; he gives no in- 

 formation respecting the wild life. 



Taczanowski ("Ornith. Perou," Vol. II.. p. 492) says: 

 " The eggs collected at Huambo and at Corral, in 

 January and February, are oval and elliptical, short, 

 with smooth surface ; the ground-colour is very pale 

 bluish green, sprinkled with black dots and spots, 

 more or less regularly rounded, sometimes irregular 

 patches, generally few in number, usually more numer- 

 ous at the broad extremity, rare at the apex, occa- 

 sionally equally distributed over the whole surface. 

 Length 22.4-23'.8 to 16.7-17.2 millimetres in breadth." 

 The author also quotes the following from Stolzmann : 

 " A lively and animated bird like the other species of 

 the genus. It occurs chiefly in open spaces, such as 

 plantations or the margins of rivers, never penetrating 

 into the depth of the forest. One generally sees them 

 in pairs or small companies consisting of a few indi- 

 viduals. It nests in the rainy season from January to 

 March. The natives of the country call it r/iianchricu, 

 a name applied at Cuteryo to Trupialis miHtaris." 



In 1905 Mr. E. W. Harper sent four specimens of 

 this species to the London Zoological Gardens, and in 

 1907 he brought home a pair which he priced at 7. 

 Russ says that a few have been received singly in 

 Bordeaux. 



SUMMER TANAGER (Pyranga (r*fiva). 



Crimson., rather p:iler on underpays ; back darker ; 

 wings ashy, with deep crimson edges ; tail ashy, washed 

 with crimson ; under wing-coverts rosy ; bill pale horn- 

 colour ; feet brown. Female, above olive, wings and 

 tail blackish, with olive edges ; below yellowish. 

 Habitat, N. America in summer ; southwards through- 

 out the Antilles, Mexico, and Central America, to 

 Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru in winter. 



Mrs. Olive Thome Miller, in her ' Little Brothers of 

 the Air." pp. 159-162. gives a charming account of the 

 discovery of nests of this bird on the banks of the Black 

 River, which is well worthy of perusal, but doe'S not 

 enter sufficiently into details for scientific purposes. A 

 full description of the nidification will probably be 

 found in Baird's " Birds of N". America," p. 301. In 

 Towa. according to C. R.. Keves ("Ornithologist and 

 Oologist." Vol. IX., 1884, p. 34), the number of eggs 

 to a clutch is always four. 



Prince Maximilian speaks of finding the nest on one 



occasion at the junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi, 

 but it was placed in the fork of a branch of a tree, the 

 main stem of which was so thin that he could not 

 examine it closely. Henry Whitely obtained P. cestiva 

 on Roraima at an elevation of '3,500ft. (The 76i, 

 1885, p. 211.) 



Mr. Walter Goodfellow says (The. Ibis, 1901, p. 

 468): "Three males and one "female from Canzacota. 

 West Ecuador (6,500 feet), Quito (10,000 feet), and 

 Baeza, East Ecuador (5,500 feet). Our Consul at Quito 

 told me that he had never seen more than three at that 

 altitude during the thirty years he had lived there. The 

 specimen we shot in the garden during our stay at the 

 Consulate had been in the neighbourhood for" several 

 days, but was very shy and tried to conceal its bright coat 

 in the trees as much as possible." Dr. Russ says that this 

 species is rarely imported and only singly in the Germ m 

 market, nevertheless a pair may be found here and there, 

 in several birdrooms, but he says that it is not present 

 in any zoological gardens, and" that even the London 

 Gardens have not exhibited it. 



RED TANAGER (I'yratn/d ritbra). 



Scarlet, the feathers white at base ; wings and tail 

 black ; bill smoky horn-coloured, the tomium paler; feet 

 reddish smoke-brown ; irides encircled by a paler 

 cinnamon margin. Female above yellowish olive ; wings 

 and tail blackish green, with more olive margins ; throat 

 brighter, remainder of under surface of a paler yello\vi-li 

 green. Habitat, Eastern N. America in "summer ; 

 throughout the Antilles and Central America, to 

 Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia in winter. 



According to Gentry (vide Russ, " Fremd. Stubenv.," 

 Vol. I., pp. 649-50), this Tanager appears in the States 

 as ;i summer visitor from early in May until the last 

 week of September, and is useful in destroying insects 

 and all sorts of vermin. In isolated human "locations it 

 is .shy and nervous, yet on the other hand in the vicinity 

 of human habitations is bold and confiding, so that one 

 may approach within a few steps of it. In woodlands 

 it seeks its food for hours together upon the outermost, 

 branches of the highest trees ; apple and pear trees 

 especially attract it. One also sees it in company with 

 Migratory Thrushes and Changeable Troupials seeking 

 for grubs on the soil behind the ploughman. Seeds even 

 of soft plants it never eats. After the breeding-season 

 they separate into pairs and families and wander about 

 apart. One may judge it likely that in. spring, when 

 they return, the sexes separate, since the males cer- 

 tainly arrive earlier. The latter then sit on the sivmmits 

 of the highest trees singing by the hour together, doubt- 

 less with the object of attracting the females flying 

 overhead. Here and there one sees a male high up on 

 a great tree close to a very noisy thoroughfare, undis- 

 turbed by the traffic, and just as here so in the broad 

 forest it always chooses the summits of the highest trees. 

 Its cry, i-hlrhfir. resounds repeatedly and is very illusive, 

 as if from a distance, even though the bird may be 

 quite clois? to us. Later, when th" trees are clothed 

 with foliage, this Tanager, in j-pite of its splendid colour- 

 ing, well knows how to conceal itstflf^at any rate in 

 the forest, whereas in fruit and other gardens it always 

 shows itself openly, just as though it- 'were well a.wa>c 

 that here it is safer from birds of prey. The song of the 

 male, which is ventriloquial in character and is delivered 

 in rather slow time, may be fairly expressed bv the 

 following syllables : c7ki-chi-chi-char-66-charr-6d-chi. F 

 have heard it compared with that of the Bait in 

 Oriole, but I cannot discover the slightest resemblance 

 between the two. 



The breeding season starts at the end of May or 

 beginning of June, and he keeps himself always at a 



