88 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



large isolated dark brown spots; axis 1.0, diam. .71." 

 The egg is figured on Plate XLIL. fig. 5. 



In 1906 Mr. W. E. Teschemaker was successful in 

 breeding the Black Tanager in his aviaries, and has 

 published an interesting account of his experience in 

 Tin Arii-ultural Magazine (New Series, Vol. IV., pp. 

 331-6), accompanied by a photograph of the nest and 



eggs- 



The nest was built of hay at the top of a thick 

 privet hedge; it was firmly woven, unlined, and almost 

 as deep as a, Reed Warbler's. The first egg was laid 

 on the 17th June, and incubation commenced at once ; 

 on the 18th and 19th additional eggs were laid, complet- 

 ing the clutch of three ; the ground -co lour was delicate 

 cream, the shell being smooth and thin; in shape they 

 \\vre a true ellipse; they were marked with irregular 

 black spots and a few fine wavy lines. The male 

 perched by the nest singing while the hen sat, and his 

 song, 'uttered with closed beak, consisted of a low, 

 intermittent warbling; &o that de Mannncourt's infor- 

 mation, besides being meagre in the extreme, is proved 

 to be inaccurate Incubation lasted thirteen days ; the 

 newly-hatched young were lead-coloured and covered 

 with black down. The larger of the two that hatched 

 left the nest on July 12, being then like his mother, 

 excepting that he was a trifle paler and had bluish 

 feet ; the second, which left the nest the following day, 

 was rather deeper in colour. The young were partly 

 fed with fruit. 



Mr. Teschemaker very kindly sent me the two young 

 birds on August 13th, but unhappily they were delayed 

 so long on their journey from Devonshire to Kent that 

 they were more than half dead with hunger and thirst 

 when the%' came to hand. I turned them into a large 

 flight cage, but they never recovered their health, 

 were constantly quarrelling, and consequently their 

 plumage suffered considerably. On October 13th the 

 hen died, and the cock followed on the 15th : a sad 

 conclusion to a most interesting and instructive 

 experience. 



LITTLE BLACK TANAGER (Tai:Jn/phi>i\u 

 Male very similar to the preceding, excepting for its 

 inferior si/e and the white on the upper side of the 

 wing covering the lesser coverts. Female different ; 

 olive, with greyish head, whitish throat, yellow under- 

 surface, but white under wing-coverts. Habitat, 

 "Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and South America 

 down to Trinidad and Guiana on the east and Bolivia 

 on the west." (P. L. Sclater.) The wild life lias yet 

 to be studied, but Dr. Russ considers this bird to be 

 far more amiable and less aggressive than its larger 

 relative.* 



It has only been very rarely imported, and singly by 

 Bekemans, whilst Gudera once obtained five males from 

 a small dealer in Bordeaux. One of these five liuss 

 purchased for his birdroom, where it lived for about 

 nine months, but was unable to survive its first moult. 



CRESTED TAXAGER (Tachyphonus c 

 Male, above black, crown covered by a scarlet or 

 orange erectile crest, lower back and rump yellowish 

 rust-red, lesser upper wing-coverts white, below black, 

 with a yellowish rusty stripe on the upper part of the 

 throat ; bill black ; feet bluish flesh-coloured ; irides 

 dark brown. Female rusty-brown washed with olive ; 

 rump yellowish brown ; undersurface yellowish rust- 

 coloured ; bill brown ; feet brownish flesh-coloured ; 

 irides dark brown. Habitat, Guiana, Cayenne, 

 Colombia, Amazonia, and Brazil to Rio Grande do Sul. 



* Salmon (P.Z.S., 1879. p. 503) tells us only that its food 

 coa^ist* of fruit, eto., which we already know. 



Of the wild life Buffon says that it is very common 

 in Guiana, lives on small fruits, has a shrill Finch-like 

 call, but utters no similar song ; is never found in large 

 woods, but only on ploughed fields. Burmeister 

 it is abundant in Rio de Janeiro, but more so in the 

 valleys on its banks than those of the mountains. 



As Russ observes, considering its wide distribution, 

 throughout which it is nowhere rare, it is astonishing 

 that the bird trade has not imported it frequently and 

 in great numbers, yet it has only been occasionally 

 imported, and singly by Bekemans, of Antwerp. 



CROWJTED TANAGER (Tcn.-hi////r>ini* roro/iatiix). 



Glossy black ; crown with a small median crimson 

 crest ; lesser upper wing-coverts, and under wing-coverts 

 white ; bill dark leaden ; feet brown. Female, above 

 rusty-brown ; head slightly ashy ; below paler ; the 

 throat and breast with ashy freckles ; under tail-coverts 

 rusty-brown. Habitat, S.K. Brazil. Burmeister 

 that this species is "common in all the woodlands of 

 Smith Brazil, especially abundant in St. Paulo and 

 Sta. Catharina" (TSyst. Ueb. III., p. 166). 



Russ does not mention this as an imported species, 

 but Mr. L. W. Hawkins exhibited a pair at the Crystal 

 Palace in 1905. It has also been exhibited at the 

 London Zoological Gardens. 



The Tanagers which follow are of somewhat sombre 

 hues, and some of them have been regarded by Russ as 

 Grosbeaks. 



FASCIATED TANAGER (Diucopis fasciata). 



" Above grey ; lores and sides of head black ; wings 

 brown ; coverts black, crossed by a broad white band ; 

 tail blackish, edged with brown ; beneath white, sides 

 passing into cinereous ; under wing-coverts white ; bill 

 plumbeous ; beneath whitish ; feet clear brown. Whole 

 length 6.7 inches, wing 2.9, tail 2.7. Young, above 

 brown; lores and sides of the head rather darker; 

 Ibelow not so clear." "Habitat, S.E. Brazil" (P. L. 

 Sclater.) 



Dr. Sclater does not distinguish the sexes, which 

 are alike in plumage, but " the beak of the female is 

 much wider from base to middle than in the male " 

 ("How to Sex Cage-Birds.'' p. 32). Herr H. von 

 Jhering obtained this bird at Rio Grande do Sul ('/'//< 

 /I,!*, 1899, p. 434), but he tells us nothing about its 

 wild life, nor have I been able to discover anything 

 respecting it. It has been exhibited at the London 

 Zoological Gardens. 



BAHAMA TANAGER (Sj>iit<J(ilit 



Above black; a chestnut band on the nape; wing- 

 coverts and secondaries broadly bordered and primaries 

 narrowly edged with white ; terminal halves of outer 

 tail-feathers largely white, remaining feathers white- 

 tipped;' a long eyebrow streak, a broad moustachial 

 stripe and the chin white ; centre of throat yellow, 

 bounded on each side by black patches which nearly 

 unite below; breast chestnut in front, shading into 

 yellow at back ; front of abdomen also yellow ; lower 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; sides ashy ; 

 under wing-coverts white ; bill leadfen, paler below ; 

 feet blackish. Female, above olivaceous grey ; wings 

 and tail brownish black margined with white, behnv 

 paler ; the lower abdomen, under tail and wing coverts 

 white. Habitat, Bahamas. 



Why Spindalis, w'hich has a similar scheme of colour- 

 ing to the genus Xnlfafnr. has been placed between the 

 brilliant Tanagers of the genera 7'<i/Ki</ra and 

 It/iaiir/i/Kirirliix I do not understand, though Dr. 

 Sclater says it is hardly different in struct me from 

 Tanagra; but surely the beak is more Finch-like? 

 Ridgway says of it : " Culmen distinctly (usually 



