142 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



surface of lower mandible bluish ; feet black ; irides 

 brown. Female above yellowish-brown, with dusky 

 bases to feathers of mantle and upper back ; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts greyer brown ; lesser wing-coverts 

 bluish grey ; median and greater coverts dark brown 

 tipped with ochraceous ; inner secondaries edged with 

 the same ; remaining wing-feathers dark brown, ashy 

 externally ; tail-feathers brown, washed with greyish 

 blue at the edges, the outer feathers with white fringes 

 to tips of inner webs ; head and neck yellower than black ; 

 feathers round eye paler ; lores whitish ; body below 

 pale buff, darker on foreneck and chest, and paler on 

 throat and under tail-coverts, which are brown at base ; 

 flights below dusky, with inner webs ashy. Habitat, 

 Southern United States from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific ; rarelv north to Massachusetts and Maine, 

 according to Coues ; throughout Mexico and Central 

 America to Nicaragua and Costa Rica ; also Cuba. 



J. G. Cooper (" Ornith. Calif.," Vol. I., p. 231) 

 observes that "everywhere a shy and solitary bird, 

 this brilliant songster is rarely seen, although prob- 

 ably scattered throughout California in the -warmer 

 months. I noticed the first one at Fort Mojave, 

 May 6th, and afterwards saw many more frequenting 

 the trees and bushes along the river and singins a 

 lively song resembling that of the Carpodacus frontalis. 

 I have also seen them at Los Angelos and at Santa 

 Barbara, and they were found at Pit River, in the 

 extreme north-east corner of the State, by Dr. New- 

 berry. Their nest, as seen in the Eastern States, is 

 made in a low bush, and composed of fine dry grass, 

 lined -with delicate root-fibres or horsehair. The eggs 

 are about four (bluish- white), and they raise two broods 

 in the season. (Nuttall.) 



"They frequent the banks of streams crossing the 

 great interior plains and deserts, -where there is little 

 vegetation, except a few bushes, and where such 

 brilliant birds seem quite out of place." 



Dr. Russ muddles Tip his account of this species with 

 that of G. cyanea, so that it is difficult to tell which 

 species he is talking about, but I think it is evident 

 that a pair -which nested in his bird-room belonged 

 to . cyanea. Examples of G. ccerulea have been ex- 

 hibited at the London Zoological Gardens since 1862 ; 

 a specimen was purchased by the Society in 1883, and 

 there have probably been others, but it is likely that 

 meet of the examples sold as G. coerulea are really 

 G. cyanea. A female brought to me in 1897 certainly 

 belonged to the latter species ; it arrived in a consign- 

 ment of South American Grosbeaks, Song Sparrows, 

 etc. 



LAZT-LINE GROSBEAK (Gniraca parelUna). 



Above, dark indigo blue, becoming bright cobalt on 

 forehead, cheeks, rump, upper tail-coverts, and lesser 

 wing-coverts ; wings and tail black edged with bluish ; 

 lores black ; upper mandible blackish, and lower 

 greyish horn-colour ; feet brownish black ; irides brown 

 to black. Female earth-brown; long feathers at sides 

 of rump barred near the tips with white; wings and 

 tail dark brown with paler edges ; lores dull whitish ; 

 tinder surface dark ochreous brown, _ the throat, abdo- 

 men, under wing-coverts, and axillaries paler. Habitat, 

 Mexico and Northern Yucutan, with adjacent islands. 



I can discover no notes on the wild life of this bird, 

 but it probably does not greatly differ in this from ite 

 congeners. A specimen from Central America was pre- 

 sented to the London Zoological Gardens in 1895 by 

 Miss E. A. Krumbholz. 



SOUTHERN BLUE GROSBEAK (Guiraca cyanea). 



Deep blue, the lesser wing-coverts deep cobalt ; fore- 

 head and a tint over the whole head of the same blue ; 



flights and tail-feathers black ; beak and feet blackish ; 

 iris brown. The female is brown, with the under parts- 

 brighter rusty-brown. Habitat, Brazil, Amazonia, 

 Guiana, Venezuela, and Ecuador. 



According to Burmeister, this species is not found in 

 actual forest, but only on the borders of woods, on 

 open levels varied with bush, where the bird is seen 

 solitary, or in winter in small companies. It is a good 

 singer, which one can listen to> for a good time when- 

 one has the chance to hap upon its favourite resorts, 

 but he says he never met with it in abundance. (Vide 

 "Syst. Ueb.," III., p. 238.) 



White found the species not uncommon in Catamarca 

 in hedges and thickets. 



W. A. Forbes (The Ibis, 1881, p. 335) says: "It 

 frequents low bushy ground, and is usually seen singly 

 or in pairs. The Brazilians call it 'Azulin.'" 



Mr. Graham Kerr found it on the Lower Pilcomayo, 

 " along with other Finches in the brush by the river 

 margin" (The Ibis, 1892. p. 125). 



I have not succeeded in finding any account of its 

 nidification in a wild state. A pair, however, nested 

 in Dr. Russ's bird-room in 1876. The nest was built 

 in a bush, and was formed like a bowl, of stalks and 

 shavings, limed with moss .and cotton-wool. The 

 female incubated, being fed on the nest by the male. 

 The eggs were four in number, whitish, densely spotted 

 with reddish-brown ; incubation lasted thirteen days. 

 The young plumage was dull greyieh-brown, clearer 

 than that of the female. 



Dr. Russ says that this species is quiet, placid, and 

 innocent ; very tame either in mixed aviary or bird- 

 room. It requires mealworms, but has a tendency to 

 grow too fat ; its song is monotonous, but soft and of 

 pleasant sound. 



TROPICAL SEED-FINCH (Oryzoborus torridus). 



Above, silky black ; lesser wing-coverts white round 

 bend of wing ; outer webs of primaries white at base, 

 forming a speculum ; throat and foreneck black like 

 upper parts ; remainder of body below chestnut ; thighs 

 black ; longer under tail-coverts partly black. ; under 

 wing-coverts and axillaries white ; flights 'below 

 blackish, with white inner margins ; beak black, paler 

 at edges' ; feet blackish-brown ; irides greyish-brown. 

 Female above dark olive-brown, more rufescent on 

 rump and upper tail-coverts; wing-coverts edged with 

 reddish-brown ; remainder of wing and tail feathers 

 blackish-brown, with rufescent margins ; lores huffish ; 

 eyelids whitish ; under parts pale cinnamon, darker 

 on cheeks, foreneck and chest ; chin buffy-whitifih ; 

 centre of abdomen and sides paler and yellower; under 

 wing-coverts and axillaries white, slightly tinted with 

 olive-yellowish ; flights below dusky, with ashen inner 

 edges." Habitat, Brazil, Amazonia,* Guiana, Venezuela, 

 and Ecuador. (Sharpe.) 



Burmeister ("Syst. Ueb.," III., p. 240) says that thia 

 bird is more at home on open commons than in the 

 vicinity of forest. 



I ca'n find no further notes on the habits of this 

 species ; but it probably builds its ne*>t in a low bush 

 like its congeners, using dry grass, with finer material 

 for lining ; laying two egg's mottled with pale brown 

 and dotted here and there with darker spots and 

 dashes. Dr. Russ remarks (" Fremdl. Stubenv," I., pp. 

 560, 561) :" Although it has been represented in the 

 London Zoological Gardens since the year 1860, with us 

 it has been very rare both in animal-gardens and bird- 

 rooms. According to my notes it was imported in 1873 

 bv Mr Lintz, of Hamburg, in 1875 by Miss Hagenbach, 

 and in 1877 by Mr. Moller, either singly or in pairs. 

 Of two pairs obtained from the last-mentioned Mr. von> 



