io FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



from Costa Rica only, which differs in its more powerful, swollen bill. 



Dr. Russ thus speaks of the Violet Tanager, which he calls " The 

 Common Piper," (der gemeim OrganistJ : " Sometimes common in the 

 market. Harmless and peaceable in the bird-room. Song droll, ventrilo- 

 quial, intermixed with single prolonged sounds and tones not without 

 beauty ; industrious ; decidedly not a superior songster, however, as it 

 has been fabled. All these charming organists eat fruit, (soft pears 

 they will empty clean out, right up to the thin peel), soaked egg-bread 

 in marvellous quantities, and they produce a corresponding amount of 

 dirt. They are, moreover, very frail, did not live long enough to breed 

 in my bird-room, though I had a good many pairs ; hitherto have only 

 gone to nest with Mrs. von Proschek, in Vienna, but without result. 

 Price ten to twelve shillings per pair." * 



In his paper on Birds of Pernambuco, Mr. Forbes thus speaks of 

 the Violet Tanager : 



" This violet and yellow Tanager I found sparingly round Recife, 

 and also at Parahyba, both in gardens and in the vicinity of high 

 forests." " This bird is kept commonly as a cage-bird by the Brazilians, 

 who call it ' Guarratan,' a name also applied to several small bright 

 plumaged birds." 



Burmeister says it is called " Gatturama verdadeira," and that " its 

 home is the whole wooded country of Brazil." 



Neuwied observes : " The Gatturama is a very elegant bird, 

 especially common in the southern districts, where it is constantly kept 

 in cages. It is lively, active, and flies rapidly. Its food consists of 

 many varieties of fruits ; like most Tanagers, it shows a special preference 

 for ripe oranges, bananas, guavas, etc., and therefore does much mischief. 

 I never heard any song from our birds beyond a short monosyllabic 

 call-note." 



Wiener says : " The size of this, one of the most frequently 

 imported Tanagers, is only about equal to that of our Siskin, and if 

 we can supply him with plenty of fruit, the bird will live for some 

 time in the cage, consuming an incredible quantity of pears, bananas, 

 etc. Some ornithologists, who have observed this species in its wild 

 state, write of its song, whilst in the cage nothing beyond a peculiar 

 gurgling, but not unpleasant, sound is ever heard. The Violet Tanager 

 is comparatively harmless in the aviary, being peaceable towards other 

 birds." 



A paragraph in a letter from Mr. Abrahams is somewhat opposed 

 to what Wiener states. It says : " The two most imported kinds, but 



* We should be glad to obtain them at this rate in England. 



