116 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



species ; though, for eome unexplained reason, or lack 

 of reason, the latter is considered generally to be far 

 more scientific. 



This species first reached our Gardens in 1870, -since 

 which others have from time to time been added to the 

 Zoological Society's collection. One was exhibited at the 

 Crystal Palace iii 1903. 



LETTERED ARACABI (Pteroglossus inscriptus). 



Above dark green ; rump scarlet ; head, throat, and 

 neck black; under -surface pale yellow; thighs brown; 

 bill clear ochreous-'buff, with the culmen, tip, basal line, 

 and a row of spots along inferior edge of upper mandible 

 black ; feet dull lead-coloured ; orbital ring turquoise- 

 blue ; irides brownish-black. Female with the throat 

 and neck brown. Hab., " Guiana and Lower Amazonia." 

 (Sclater.) 



I have found no notes on the wild life, but it probably 

 corresponds closely with that of the other species of 

 its genus. Although, as Mr. Reginald Phillipps saye 

 (The Avicultural Magazine, First Series, Vol. VIII., 

 p. 300), this species comes over occasionally, it appears 

 only to have reached the Zoological Gardens of Berlin ; 

 Russ was of opinion that this was the only instance of 

 its importation alive, but this was an error. In 1902 

 Mrs. M. Rathborne wrote to the editor of The Avicul- 

 tural Magazine respecting an example in her posses- 

 sion ; this bird after recovery from a severe cold, with 

 which at first it was afflicted, was fed upon " a mixture 

 of egg, breadcrumbs, and potato pretty moist, for he 

 will not eat it at all dry ; also cut up banana, sweet 

 grapes split, and squills in the drinking water." The 

 squills were probably given to prevent a recurrence 

 of the cold. 



SPOT-BILLED TOUCANET (Selenidera maculirostris). 



Above dark green ; flights internally blackish-grey ; 

 six middle tail-feathers brown-tipped ; head, neck, and 

 breast steel-black, a narrow pale yellow nuchal band ; 

 a broad stripe of feathers from the bill below the eye 

 over the ear-coverts, yellow on each side, orange in 

 front and citron-yellow behind ; abdomen greenish ; 

 flanks orange ; thighs brown ; under tail-coverts scarlet ; 

 bill pale yellowish-white or greenish-yellow, greener in 

 front with some very variable broad bands and trans- 

 A-erse blotches on the upper mandible, the base of 

 culmen and a more or less defined band towards tip of 

 lower mandible, black ; feet greenish grey. Female 

 smaller ; with chestnut instead of black on head, neck, 

 and breast ; the broad streak on the lower portion of 

 the ear-coverts green instead of orange and yellow ; 

 the bill shorter, less tapering, but more distinctly 

 hooked at tip. Hab., South-eastern Brazil. 



Burmeister (" Systematische Uebersicht," II., p. 211) 

 says : " They sat about five or six together roosting on 

 not particularly lofty trees in the open field, and were 

 hopping boldly about like Parrots, busy in searching for 

 fruit, until my appearance alarmed them, and they 

 hurried away screaming." 



According to Prince Maximilian the habits of this 

 species do not differ from those of its allies, and I have 

 been unable to find any definite account by recent 

 collectors or explorers. 



This little Toucan is not frequently imported, but it 

 reached the Berlin Gardens in 1874. those of London 

 in 1879 and 1880. In 1878 Linz, of Hamburg, imported 

 it. and at the same time Miss Hagenbeck received two 

 examples which she exhibited at the exhibition of the 

 " JEgintha " Society in Berlin. 



BARBETS ( 



Birds mostly of brilliant colours (though there are 

 some notable exceptions) inhabiting Africa, Asia and 

 Tropical America. Like the Toucans, they live chiefly 

 upon berries and fruit, but also take insects, and in 

 captivity will accept flejsh. They lay white eggs in 

 holes in trees, and their cry is loud and resonant. Their 

 bill is short, stout, often with long basal bristles ; their 

 feet are short and the toes are in pairs, the outer 

 anterior toe being turned backwards ; the wings are 

 short and rounded, and the tail short or of moderate 

 length, consisting of ten feathers. They are heavy in 

 their actions, arboreal in habits, rarely coming to the 

 ground, upon which they hop ; their flight is short. 

 The plumage of the sexes differs very elightly, but the 

 females generally have a shorter and broader bill than 

 the males ; in size also the sexes appear to differ, in 

 some species one sex being larger, in others the other 

 sex. 



In captivity I should be inclined to treat the Barbets 

 in much the same manner as the Toucans, but with less 

 animal food. 



GREAT BARBET (Megalcema virens). 



Above brown, slightly rufescent ; median wing-coverts 

 shaded with maroon ; all the coverts edged with 

 greenish or 'greenish-blue ; flights externally similar, 

 inner ones tipped with cinnamon ; lower back, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts grass-green, with paler edges ; 

 tail green above, bluish below ; head and throat ver- 

 diter-blue, inclining to greenish ; sides of face and ear- 

 coverts black ; lower throat dark brown ; breast and 

 abdomen prus&ian blue, the latter streaked with yellow : 

 sides and flanks also streaked, the former cinnamon and 

 the latter green ; thighs dull yellowish-brown ; under 

 tail-coverts scarlet; under wing-coverts pale yellowish, 

 edge of wing green, flights below dusky with pale 

 yellow inner edges ; bill and gape wax-yellow, dark 

 horn-colour towards end of upper mandible, white at 

 tip of lower mandible ; feet dull sap-green, claws horn- 

 coloured ; irides dark brown. Female smaller than 

 male, with slightly longer wing but shorter tail! Hab., 

 " Hills of Southern China, extending into the Burmese 

 and Tenasserim Hills." (Shelley.) 



In Oates' edition of " Hume's Nests and Eggs of 

 Indian Birds," Vol. II., pp. 319, 320, we read: 

 " Major C. T. Bingham found the nest of this species 

 in Tenasserim. He says: 'On the 12th February, on 

 the bank of the Mekhnaychoung in the Thoungyeen 

 Valley. I found my first nest of this bird. It w;i,s in ;i. 

 hole of a jungle tree, name unknown, at a height of 

 a-bout 30 ft. from the ground. Not made, as many 

 Barbets' nests are made, on the underside of a branch, 

 but bored into the upright stem for about 3 in., ter- 

 minating in a natural hollow, at the bottom of which. 

 on the bare wood, lay three fresh eggs, broad ovals, 

 dull white, but only here and there with faint traces 

 of a glass. A second nest of the 3rd of March at 

 Meeawuddy contained two young ones. 



" ' A third, found on the 26th March on the bank 

 of the Maiglachoung, contained one young one, appar- 

 ently just hatched, and one very hard-set egg. This 

 was in a hole in a dead teak tree, at about 20 ft. from 

 the ground, and was, like the first, an entrance bored 

 into a natural hollow, which was unlined. 



" ' I am glad to say that, though the getting-out of 

 the egg necessarily enlarged the entrance-hole, the 

 birds did apt desert their young one, for I saw them 

 feeding it tne next day. The four eggs procured nir.i 



