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TANACETUM TANAGER. 



TANACETUM (Linnjeus). A genus of hardy 

 herbaceous perennials and evergreen shrubs ; tsvo of 

 the former are British, and cultivated as pot or medi- 

 cal herbs, under the name of Tansy. The genus 

 belongs to Compositce, and is common everywhere. 



TANAGER (Tanagra). A numerous genus, or 

 rather group or family, of birds, belonging to the den- 

 tirostral division of Cuvier's Passeres, and placed in 

 the system between the fly-catchers and the thrushes, 

 with each of which they have some characters in 

 common, though there is still enough that is peculiar 

 to entitle them to be ranked as a distinct group, and so 

 much diversity as to require separation into a good 

 many subordinate genera. The progressive history 

 of the group is by no means clear ; so that, upon con- 

 sulting the succession of authors that have alluded to 

 them, it is not easy to say what is a tanager and what 

 is not. 



The general characters of the group are : the bill 

 conical, triangular at the base, slightly arched in the 

 culrnen, and with a notch toward the tip ; the wings 

 short, and the birds taking only short flights. In 

 their habits they more nearly resemble our finches 

 than any other family of our birds. They feed upon 

 seeds and berries, and also upon insects. The greater 

 number of them are remarkable for the brilliance of 

 their colours. In this also they agree with our finches, 

 which, though sober in their attire as compared with 

 the tanagers, are yet among the gayest of our little 

 birds. 



Tue more particular characters which may be re- 

 garded as applying most perfectly to the typical spe- 

 cies are these : the bill with a ridge on the culmen, 

 which makes its section nearly triangular at the base; 

 the culmen a little arched ; the upper mandible slightly 

 notched, and very sharp at the tip ; the lower man- 

 dible straight, but a little enlarged and convex in the 

 lower outline toward the middle part ; and the tomia of 

 both mandibles rendered very efficient for breaking 

 and bruising, by being bent inwards so as to form a 

 margin ; the bill is thus a very powerful and efficient 

 one for its size, and it has much more of- a granivor- 

 ous than of an insectivorous character, though the 

 notch shows that it does, to some extent, partake of 

 the latter. The nostrils are lateral near the base of 

 the bill, pierced in very slight nasal grooves, and 

 partially covered by the reflected feathers of the 

 front. The feet are of mean length, with four toes, 

 three to the front, and one to the rear ; the middle 

 front toe as long as the tarsus, and united to the ex- 

 ternal one at its base ; the inner one is entirely free. 

 The wings of mean length, and rounded ; the first 

 quill shorter than the second ; and the third the 

 longest in the wing. As has been hinted, the flight 

 is short, and the birds are not given to extensive 

 migration, though many of them alter their habita- 

 tion with the seasons. In this also they have some 

 resemblance to our finches ; for, when they are in 

 the woods and thickets during the breeding time, 

 they are mostly dispersed in pairs, whereas they 

 sometimes flock w hen they come abroad to reap their 

 harvest in the more open places. 



All the tanagers properly so called are natives of 

 the American continent, chiefly of the tropical, or at 

 all events of the warmer parts, and it is as such that 

 they are peculiarly characteristic of South America, 

 which rivals, in the numbers and the splendour of its 

 feathered inhabitants, the oriental islands, and all the 

 richer districts of the East ; and in the humming-birds, 



the cotinges, and the tanagers, the one part of the 

 world stands much on a par with the other. In the 

 birds of paradise, the nectar-suckers, and the rollers, 

 as is the case with the finely-coloured birds of tro- 

 pical Asia, we cannot find any parallel among the 

 birds of our comparatively cold climate that can be 

 compared with those painted children of the sunny 

 lands. This we could not expect ; for the birds are 

 characteristic of their native countries exactly in those 

 very particulars in which those countries differ from 

 our own, and the birds are among the means which 

 we must use in seeking to obtain a knowledge of the 

 countries which they inhabit. 



They prefer the thickets on the margins of the 

 forests, rather than the depths of the forests them- 

 selves; and in this again they resemble our finches, 

 which are bush birds rather than tree ones. At one 

 season of the year they find an abundant supply of 

 food in the berries which those bushes yield, and in 

 the seeds of various herbaceous plants with which 

 the thickets are entwined ; but when the supply there 

 fails, they approach the cultivated grounds and the 

 dwellings of the country people, often levying heavy 

 contributions on the crops. When they come to the 

 more humid and fertile places they perch upon the 

 tops of the lofty trees, in order to be safe from the 

 attacks of the numerous reptiles; as, were they to 

 repose on the ground or on the bushes and low 

 branches, the brightness of 'their colours would 

 speedily disclose them to those snakes which are such 

 destroyers of birds. 



As is the case with most of the richly-coloured 

 birds of tropical countries, few of them have much 

 music in their voices ; but there are some songsters 

 among them, and the few that are, are much prized 

 by the people of a country where birds are so many, 

 and singing birds so few. Their nests are in general 

 elaborately formed, constructed externally of small 

 twigs and bits of stalks, and lined with wool, feathers, 

 or down. They are of a hemispherical form, and 

 the birds labour at the construction of them with the 

 most indefatigable industry. The eggs in a hatch 

 are but few, not exceeding two or three in number ; 

 but in most parts of the country they breed at least 

 twice in the year. This double hatch in the twelve 

 months is very common among the birds of tropical 

 countries, whether the eggs in the hatch be few or 

 many ; and it is remarkable that the birds retain this 

 instinct long after they have been naturalised in 

 countries very different from their original one. We 

 have an instance of this in our common domestic 

 poultry, which there is little doubt came originally 

 from the south-east of Asia ; for though, by artificial 

 treatment, they may be made to breed at almost "any 

 time, they have a natural tendency to breed in the 

 spring and the autumn. 



We can understand why the breeds of such birds 

 as the tanaerers should be less numerous than those 

 of our finches and linnets, just as the latter are, 

 generally speaking, less numerous than those of the 

 warblers. The days are long with us at the time 

 when our little birds have their most severe labour, 

 that is, when they have to feed the young ; while in 

 the tropical regions the days are but little more than 

 twelve hours, and the twilight is comparatively short, 

 in consequence of the sun's rays descending almost 

 perpendicularly, and consequently much sooner 

 getting to that depth below the horizon at which 

 twilight ends than when his course is more oblique. 



