ANAGERS. 



89 



strongly) convex," whereas he describes Tanagra as 

 having the culmen " nearly straight for basal half or 

 more, more or less strongly convex terminally ; the 

 tip slightly uncinate." ("Birds of North and Middle 

 America," II., pp. 62 and 54). Nevertheless he leaves 

 it in the TanagrZdoK. 



Mr. J. Lewis Bonhote (Avic. Mag., N.S., Vol. I., 

 pp. 19, 20) observes of this bird : " The commonest and 

 perhaps the handsomest of all the birds of the barrens 

 is the Bahama Finch (S. ze.no], known locally as the 

 Cock Robin. It is to be found in some numbers round 

 every clump of bush, and seems to feed chiefly on 

 berries, the black berry referred to when dealing with 

 the Grosbeak * being also a favorite with this bird." 

 " I have never found the nest of this species, but from 

 the large preponderance of males at Abaco last March 

 I feel pretty certain they must have been nesting at 

 the time. Flying about in small flocks they may 

 generally be found by listening for the call-note, which 

 is a high-pitched 'twee' frequently uttered, especially 

 during the early spring, when the males are very 

 pugnacious ; it does not appear to have any noticeable 

 song. As this bird is frequently caught alive I have 

 on several occasions had one in my possession, but 

 they did not live long, and I never succeeded in getting 

 them on to artificial food, but have had to feed them 

 entirely on wild berries ; they get very tame, but their 

 beauty is their only attraction." 



This pretty Tanager was exhibited by Mr. Dewhurst 

 at the Crystal Palace in 1906 and 1907, and I have to 

 thank Mr. Allen Silver for calling my attention to the 

 fact.t 



GREAT SALTATOR (Saltator magnus}. 



Above olivaceous, the sides of head ashy with a weak 

 white eyebrow stripe ; chin white with a black stripe 

 on each side ; under surface of body pale ashy varied 

 with fulvous, especially on middle of throat and under 

 tail-coverts ; bill blackish ; feet brown ; irides brown. 

 Female similarly coloured. Habitat, " Panama south- 

 wards to Bolivia and South Brazil " (P. L. Sclater). 

 Taczanowski (" Orn. Perou," II., p. 540) quotes Stolz- 

 mann for the following : " It keeps in pairs in open 

 spaces in the low scrub. Its call-note is a very strong 

 and piercing whistle. It nests in January and Feb- 

 ruary. The nest is placed very low down. The eggs 

 resemble those of Aphobus chopi." 



W. A. Forbes (The Ibis, 1881, p. 334) says : " I only 

 once met with this bird, which I shot in thick and 

 high forest some miles from Parahyba." 



Mr. T. K. Salmon describes the nest as being " com- 

 posed of small sticks and fern-stalks, and placed in 

 low underwood," and the eggs as " pale greenish blue, 

 with a zone of black spots and hair-lines round the 

 larger end." (" Proc. Zool. Soc.," 1879, p. 505.) Dr. 

 Sclater concludes ("Cat. Birds," XL, p. 282) that this is 

 an unvarying description of the nest and eggs of the 

 genus ; but it would seem, from Dr. E. Lonnberg's 

 notes on S. laticlavius, that the latter lays a greenish 

 white egg, " spotted all over with irregular reddish- 

 brown, or almost red, spots and with fainter bluish 

 violet or bluish grey blotches" (The Ibis, 1903, p. 

 455). If he is right, it is probable that S. auranturos- 

 tris lays similar eggs. Mr. E. W. Harper gave four 

 examples of this fine Tanager to the Zoological Society 

 of London in 1906. 



ALLIED SALTATOR (Saltator similis). 

 Above ash-grey ; upper back, greater wing-coverts 



* Referred to in the previous volume (1st ser., Vol. VIII.. p. 

 285). 



t The dealers' names of "Cuban Ta.nas'er " and "Banana 

 Bird " applied to this species are absurd. It does not come from 

 Cuba, and Banana is probably a corruption of Bahama 



and secondaries washed with olivaceous green ; eyebrow 

 stripe white ; throat white with a black line on each 

 side ; under surface of body ochraceous yellow, ashy on 

 the flanks ; under wing-coverts pale ochraceous ; bill 

 leaden grey ; feet brown. Female resembling the male 

 in colouring, but doubtless differing in form of beak. 

 Habitat, South Brazil and Corrientes, Argentine Re- 

 public. 



I have discovered no notes on the wild life of this 

 bird. It has been exhibited at the London Zoological 

 Gardens. 



ORANGE-BILLED TANAGER (Saltator aurantiirostris). 



Above greyish washed with olivaceous, excepting on 

 the tail, which shows faintly indicated darker bars ; 

 the outer feathers varied with white at tips ; brown 

 of head slaty-blackish ; flights dark grey-brown with 

 olive-ashy margins to outer webs ; lores, sides of head 

 and throat black ; eyebrow-stripe fulvous at first, but 

 becoming white in front with advanced age ; under 

 surface buffish white on chin, becoming gradually clear 

 sandy buff on throat, bounded behind by a broadish 

 arched black band which connects the black at sides of 

 throat ; breast from band greyish cinnamon washed 

 with olive gradually passing into the clearer pale 

 coffee-tint of the abdomen ; under tail-coverts deeper ; 

 flights and tail-feathers below ashy ; under wing- 

 coverts pale buff. Bill at first dark horn-colour washed 

 with leaden grey, but bright ochre-yellow tipped with 

 black in the adult bird ; feet leaden greyish ; irides 

 dark brown. Female slightly duller in colour and 

 without the connecting black collar across the back of 

 the throat ; eyebrow stripe permanently fulvous ; bill 

 broader from base to middle and never of the uniform 

 clear ochreous colouring of that of the male. Habitat, 

 Paraguay and Uruguay and Northern and Western 

 Argentina. 



" In Corrientes d'Orbigny found this Saltator breed- 

 ing in the month of November. It frequents the shrubs 

 and bushes in the neighbourhood of the houses, and 

 makes an open nest of roots, not of very neat construc- 

 tion. The eggs are two or three, greenish blue, slightly 

 spotted at the larger end with blackish and reddish 

 zigzag markings. The egg is figured in ' D'Orbigny's 

 Voyage' (PI. XXVIIL, Fig. 3)." (Sclater and Hudson, 

 "Argent. Ornith.," Vol. I., p. 42.) 



I published an account of this Tanager in The 

 Avicultural Magazine, N.S., Vol. II., pp. 335-339, illus- 

 trated by a coloured plate representing adult and old 

 males. 



The London Zoological Society was probably the first 

 to exhibit this Tanager ; but, like most of the Tanagers, 

 its appearance in the bird market seems to be spas- 

 modic ; a few turn up one year and then perhaps 

 several years pass and not a specimen is received. In 

 1903 an Italian brought a consignment of Argentine 

 birds to London, from which my friend Mr. Housden, 

 of Sydenham, secured three examples of S. auran- 

 tiirostris, a male and two females. I purchased the 

 male and fed it in the usual manner ; but, as the 

 collector had previously fed it upon canary seed only, 

 its constitution was undermined before it came into my 

 possession in September ; its health fluctuated some- 

 what, but in November it died. 



Though neither brilliantly coloured nor a songster 

 (though Dr. Russ imagines that it must be), this species 

 is pleasing on account of its confiding nature. 



In the same year, 1903, Mr. Swaysland received four 

 young examples of this species, their bills being in the 

 horn-coloured stage, one of which he exhibited at the 

 Crystal Palace under the impression that the dark- 

 billed form represented a distinct species. 



