I4 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



ants' cocoons and hard-boiled yolk of egg; they also sought for all 

 kinds of insects in the garden, especially little worms, and also stole 

 the young of Wagtails as soon as they were out of the egg." 



Dr. Russ then states, with some appearance of doubt as to its 

 credibility, that "a male, in the possession of Mrs. A. Musil, is tame, 

 and in addition to its harsh notes, utters clear Thrush-like sounds and 

 'a beautiful soft song, rich in variations, somewhat resembling that of 

 the Robin ' (here the Doctor inserts a ?) ; it moults regularly every 

 year." 



In his work, Die Fremdlandischen Stubenvogel, Dr. Russ further 

 observes : " One of those birds which were known even to the oldest 

 authors, one finds reference to them by Aldrovandi, and divers accounts 

 even much earlier, down to the time of Buffon, in which indeed much 

 error and confusion are the rule, whereas concerning the proper natural 

 history of the bird scarcely anything certain is given. As for the rest, 

 Belon had already stated that, in his time, merchants brought Red 

 Tanagers in great numbers from Brazil into the trade, and, moreover, 

 in order to utilize them for garnishing clothes and other ornamental 

 work. One therefore perceives that even then human vanity and greed 

 of finery caused such birds to be slaughtered for their gratification. 

 Buffon hints, one may conjecture that before such barbarous extermin- 

 ation, they must have been considerably more abundant in their native 

 country. Later bird-students confound many kinds of red birds together, 

 and, for instance, even place the Virginian Cardinal among the Tanagers. 

 Then again, more recently, when the fancy for living birds commences, 

 the Purple Tanager has entirely vanished ; 'neither Bechstein nor Bolle 

 have given an account of it, and the dealers' catalogues, up to the 

 seventieth year, had, moreover, not indicated it ; even in the Zoological 

 Gardens, of London, a single male was first received in July, 1863." 



Mr. J. Hoiisden's fine example of this species, which never had a 

 day's illness, was kept in a large flight-cage, where it was able to take 

 plenty of healthful exercise. As regards food, it was treated .similarly 

 to other soft-food eaters in my friend's collection, having potato, bread, 

 sweet biscuits, and any fruit which chanced to be readily procurable, 

 as well as soaked ants' cocoons. I have two fine healty males in my 

 own collection which I feed on my regular soft- food mixture and 

 banana : they will not touch oranges at present. 



