140 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



followed by a broad yellow band ; a bro.id black 

 btreak from angle of moutn ; sides of neck and under 

 parts yellow, streaked with black ; chin and centre 

 of abdomen -uniform yellow ; flights below rather paler 

 than in the male. Hab., Himalayas from, the far 

 North-west to Sikhim; Manipur in. winter; Southern 

 Shan States ; wooded mountains of Western Szechueii 

 in Western China. 



Jerdon ("Birds of India," Vol. II., p. 887) says: 

 "According to Captain Hutton this species 'comes 

 to Mussooree in flocks during March and April, and 

 remains as long as it can find plenty of cherry stones 

 to crack, after which it disappears. They have a 

 curious chattering note, and love to sit on the tops of 

 the tallest trees. When at work on a wild cherry-tree 

 they are easily detected by a constant cracking sound 

 of the cherry-stones, which they never break, but open 

 most dexterously at the joining of the valves. The 

 ground beneath the trees is strewed with the opened 

 shells." Lieut. -Col. G. Rippon obtained one example 

 of this species in the middle of- April in the hills 

 behind Fort Stedman, in the 'Southern Shan States, at 

 about 5,000 feet elevation (The Ibis, 1901, p. 546), and 

 Lieut.-Col. C. T. Bingham obtained it in April at 

 Htitamaung, Loi Maw range, at 6,000 feet (The Ibis, 

 1903, p. 600). 



A female of this handsome Hawfinch was purchased 

 for the Zoological Gardens at Regent's Park in Jan- 

 uary, 1885; but the species seems to have been rarely 

 imported, and Dr. Russ dismisses it in three and a- 

 half lines : considering its extensive range, it is not 

 at all unlikely to come to hand at any time. 



YELLOW-BELLIED GROSBEAK (Pheucticus chrysogaster). 



Above back, wings, upper tail-coverts, and tail 

 black ; mantle with a few yellow spots ; median and 

 greater wing-coverts tipped with white ; primaries 

 white at base ; secondaries with inner weo white- 

 tipped ; tail-feathers tipped with white increasingly 

 from the centre outwards, the three outermost feathers 

 with the inner web very broadly tipped ; head, neck, 

 rump, body below, under wing-coverts and axillaries 

 lemon-yellow ; under tail-coverts white ; beak and feet 

 dark leaden ; claws brown ; irides dark hazel. Female 

 altogether paler, with ashy-olive streaked with black 

 in place of the black of the male, much of the yellow 

 colouring paler and washed with olive ; flights ex- 

 ternally edged with greyish olive ; upper tail-coverts 

 ashy ; tail-feathers pale brown with ashy edges, the 

 outer one with narrow white edging to tips ; lores and 

 eyebrow-stripe, cheeks and centre of under surface 

 bright yellow ; thighs ashy ; under tail-covefts white ; 

 beak dark horn-grey, the lower mandible paler with 

 black edges ; feet leaden. Hab., Venezuela to Ecuador 

 and Peru. 



According to Stolzmann (Taczanowsky, " Orn. 

 de Perou," Vol. III., p. 5), it was formerly " common at 

 Cutervo and nested in the houses. It keeps in pairs in 

 open places such as ploughed fields; it- makes havoc in 

 maize-fields. Its song is monotonous. It is often caged. 

 At Cutervo it is known by the name of frrtnfa 7A*--". 

 at Chachapoyas and Huayabamba by that of I'iurn." 



Mr. W. Goodfellow, in a paper on birds from 

 Colombia and Ecuador (Tfie Ibi*, 1901, p. 473), says: 

 " They only come up to Quito during the months of 

 Novemlber, December, and January, when they do 

 considerable damage in the gardens to buds and young 

 shoots, which they appear to pull off the trees out of 

 pure wantonness. They feed largely on the seeds of 

 various acacias, both green and ripe. They have loud 

 and agreeable, notes, and their flight is "clumsy and 

 short. They frequent the ChilTo Valley all the year 



round, and I often saw a dozen or more together peck- 

 ing about on the old stone walls around the village of 

 Pifo. I found one of their nests at this place in 

 October. It contained two young, and was built on 

 the lower branches of an acacia tree." 



This species has been exhibited at the London. Zoo- 

 logical Gardens. 

 GOLDEX-BELLIED GROSBEAK (Pheucticus aureiventris) 



Upper surface, including head, throat, and breast, 

 black ; a few ill-defined subtenniinal white or yellow- 

 markings on the feathers of the mantle ; lesser wing- 

 coverts yellow ; two spots on the greater coverts, and 

 the base of the primaries white ; tail with white tips- 

 to the three outer tail-feathers ; abdomen and under 

 wing-coverts bright yellow ; a few black spots on sides ; 

 thighs with black bases to the feathers ; beak black, 

 with extremity of lower mandible paler ; feet black ; 

 irides brown. Female similar in plumage, but doubt- 

 less differing in outline of beak. Hab., Bolivia, 

 Northern Argentina, Upper Paraguay, and Matogrosso 

 in Brazil. Beyond the fact that it appears to be a 

 forest-frequenting bird, I have discovered nothing 

 respecting the wild life of this Grosbeak ; an example 

 from Argentina was acquired by the London Zoological 

 Society in 1904. 

 ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK (Hedymrfes ludovicianus). 



The male is an extremely beautiful, though rather 

 large bird. The upper surface is chiefly black, but the 

 lower back, rump, inner median coverts, a series of 

 spots on the tips of the igreater coverts, the bases of 

 the primaries, a series of spots at the tips of the 

 secondaries, upper tail-coverts, and inner webs of three 

 outer tail-feathers white ; under surface white, a large 

 rose-red patch on the fore neck and centre of breast ; 

 sides of body and thighs ashy, spotted with black ; 

 tinder wing-coverts and axillaries rosy ; beak white, 

 feet greyish-blue, iris hazel. 



The female is quite different, olivaceous or ochreous 

 brown streaked with blackish ; a streak through the 

 centre of the crown, a superciliary stripe, a.nd the lores 

 white, cheeks buffish white ; the wings and tail blackish 

 brown, the former with two white bands as in the male ; 

 under surface white, buffish on breast and centre of 

 abdomen, breast and flanks spotted and streaked with 

 brown ; under wing-coverts and axillaries orange- 

 yellow ; beak brown, paler "below, feet and iris as in 

 the male. 



Hab., Canada, through the Eastern United States, 

 westward to Missouri, and thence south to Texas, 

 Central America. Colombia, and Ecuador; it also 

 occurs in Cozumel, Cuba and Jamaica. 



According to Brewer, this bird appears eastward of 

 Massachusetts towards the middle of May and nests 

 in the first week of June in low trees on the borders 

 of woods, preferably in small erroves on the banks of a 

 stream. In this manner Allan found it nesting in 

 Canada ; the nest is constructed of coarse plant-stalks, 

 bits of leaves, sticks and twigs, with fragments of moss 

 interwoven on the outside ; the inside lined with finer 

 materials. It is an open cup contaimTUg three to four 

 eggs, which are incubated for fourteen days. Only one 

 Jxrood is reared in the year. 



According to Dr. Hov both sexes incubate in turn, 

 and when not sitting 1 the cock sits near the nest sing- 

 inp-. <and thus renders its discovery easy. 



The eggs appear to be pale green or bronzy, irre- 

 gularly sprinkled with tawnv. cinnamon, or rust-reddish 

 spots, and in shape are perfect ovals. 



According to ?omp writers who have described the 

 wild life of this bird, its song is full and powerful as 

 that of a Thrush. 



