16 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



der ; the outer wing-coverts mixed with black. Hab., 

 Cuba. Gundlach save that this bird is " common, and 

 lives less in the forests than at the borders of the 

 woods, and other places where there are trees. In the 

 autumn they unite into communities, which at tluu 

 time make havoc of the millet and rice fields. Later in 

 the winter they seek their food in the plantations, feed- 

 ing in the pig-sties or the drying trays used for sugar. 

 Also they search for nectar in the larger flower.* of 

 trees. In the afternoon they assemble in considerable 

 numbers 'on lofty trees or 'bamboo cane to rest, and 

 there each of these birds from time to time exercises 

 his monotonous voice, so that from the multitude of 

 their cries, a great but not unpleasing sound arises. 

 At the least alarm they are instantly silent, but so soon 

 as this is comprehended, they again commence their 

 noise. Occasionally they are combined with other 

 species of the family', and then the concert produced by 

 all together is even more complete. 



"This Starling nests in April and May, constructing 

 its nest on slenderly branched sites on the trees, or on 

 the leaf-sheaths of palms, or between the large leaves 

 of the Jirtnni'lutx living as parasites on the trees, of dry 

 plants, hair, feathers, etc. The laying consists of i> nr 



O GT ' ' 



Thieiiemann describes the eggs as somewhat elon- 

 gated, not symmetrical, grey-greenish-white, sparsely 

 dotted with grey and black-brownish points, which are 

 wanting at the apex, but numerous at the base, which is 

 covered by a large brown patch and small black-brown 

 dots. Length 22 mm., breadth 14 mm. Freiherr vo :i 

 Grote bred the species in 1888 ; and I bel : eve a pair 

 belonging to Mr. G. Millsum nested unsuccessfully 

 much more recently : the eggs were four in number, pah- 

 bluish-green, with dark spots on the larger end ; in- 

 cubation lasted thirteen days ; three young weiv 

 hatched, but not reared. 



In June, 1900. Mr. Praschkauer, of the Avell-known 

 firm of bird-food importers, asked me if 1 would be 

 willing to accept a rare Oriole which, for ten years, had 

 been his wife's pet ; she was in constant anxiety lest 

 it should fall a victim to some prowling cat, and there- 

 fore was willing to give it up. Of course, I accepted 

 with pleasure. While in her possession it had been fed 

 upon sponge-cake and fruit ; but being kept in a rather 

 small cage had almost lost the power of flight. It. 

 however, soon learned to use its wings again in a good- 

 si/ed flight-cage. I fed it exactly in the same manner 

 as my Tanagers. Whenever it is fed, or if you speak 

 to it, this bird utters a harsh note iraa (with a peevish 

 trarr sound in it, only more sharp, as if the r were 

 omitted) ; sometimes it is more like char/-. This 

 appears to be the call-note, and is described by Mi. 

 Page as "a caw. somewhat similar to that of a Rook, 

 Taut pitched in a different key. and a little more 

 mellow." He, however, says: "Power of song he 

 has none," in which, if his bird and mine are of the 

 .ame species (and I know of no other with the coverts 

 ruddy yellowish-brown), I differ from him entirely. 

 My bird certainly has the best song, though not cer- 

 tainly the purest in sound, of any Starling that I have 

 heard sing, and it will often sing to order. The per- 

 formance is very similar to that of a domesticated 

 Canary, if you can fancy the song produced by a 

 Starling, all the notes harsher, less penetrating, but 

 quite pleasing. 



This bird is never ill, and bids fair to live for many 

 years yet. It was probably at least a year old when 

 originally purchased, was ten years in the purchaser':- 

 possession before she gave it Lo me, and is quite 

 sprightly as I write in 1908. 



Mr. Page secured his supposed pair (the hen was pro- 

 bably that sex of Agelctus frontalia, which I have had 

 offered to me once and seen several times) early in 1906, 

 when there were others in the market ; he published an 

 account of it in " Bird Notes " for that year, pp. 203- 

 206. The fact that his cock bird showed off to its 

 companion is not surprising, as mine also used to show 

 off to a cock Hang-nest in a cage close by. Mr. Under- 

 wood, the traveller, recognised my bird as a " Fire- 

 shouldered Troupial," and Russ 'calls .4. Jtui/ierali*- 

 " The Hang-nest with fire-red wing-coverts." 



DARK GREEN MAIZE-KATKR (l>.<i'iid,>li'l<tc.< rirwens). 



Deep olive-brown; lesser upper wing-coverts, under 

 wing-coverts, and middle of a.bdomen yellow ; bill black ; 

 feet dark brown. Female rather paler and more 

 olivaceous ; bill longer and more tapering than in the 

 male. Hab., South Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and 

 Argentina. 



Hudson says of this bird ("Argentine Ornithology," 

 Vol. I., pp. 102, 103): "It is active, strong on the 

 wing, sociable and noisy; and being, moreover, a pretty 

 and elegant bird, very common in settled districts, and 

 with a preference for man's neighbourhood, it is familiar 

 to everyone, and has won among many competitors tho 

 vernacular name of Pecho-amartllo (Yellow-breast), for 

 with us yellow-ibreasted species are somewhat numerous. 

 It remains all the year, invariably going about in flocks 

 of from twenty to thirty birds, and feeds on the ground 

 in the fields or on the open plain. While they are 

 feeding, one bird takes up a position on a stalk or 

 thistle-top to keep guard ; when he flies down another 

 bird takes his place ; if a person approaches, the sen- 

 tinel gives the alarm, and all the birds fly off in a very 

 close flock, making the air resound with their loud 

 ringing notes. After feeding, they repair to the trees, 

 where they join their robust voices' in a spirited concert, 

 without any set form or melody such as other songsters 

 possess, but all together, flinging out their notes at 

 random, as if mad with joy. In this delightful hubbub 

 there are some soft, silvery sounds. W'here they are 

 never persecuted they have 'little fear of man, but they 

 invariably greet his approach with a loud, vigorous 

 remonstrance. 



" In October the birds break up their companies to 

 pair. Sometimes they breed on the open plain in a 

 large cardoon thistle, but a thick bush or low tree is 

 preferred. The nest is like that of a Thrush, toeing 

 deep, compactly made of dry grass and slender sticks, 

 plastered inside with mud, and lined with hair or soft, 

 dry grass. It is, however, deeper and more symmetrical 

 than the Thrush's nest, and it is sometimes plastered 

 with cow-dung instead of with mud. The eggs are four, 

 very long, white, and abundantly spotted with deep 

 red, the spots becoming confluent at the large end. 



" The Yellow-breast is never seen to quarrel with 

 its fellows or with other birds, and it is possibly due 

 to its peaceful disposition that it is more victimised by 

 the parasitical MoJotltrus than any other bird. I have 

 frequently found their nests full of parasitical eggs, as 

 many as fourteen, and in one case sixteen, eggs in one 

 nest. In .some seasons all the nests I found and watchcil 

 were eventually abandoned by the birds on account of 

 the number of parasitical eggs dropped in them. I 

 have also so frequently found parasitical eg^s on the 

 ."round under the nest that I believe the Yellow-breast 

 throws out some of these foreign eggs, and in one 

 instance I was quite sure that this had happened. The 

 nest was in a cardoon bush, and contained five eggs 

 t wo of the Yellow-breast and three parasitical. These 

 three were of the variety most thickly mottled with 

 red. and consequently close resembling the eggs of the 



