6g



us at home. There is one specimen at present in the “ Zoo,”

and perhaps some members of the Avicultural Society may have

others. These birds I saw offered for sale in Guayaquil at 5d.

each, and no doubt at half that price they could have been

bought. Being rather large birds, they show off their colours to

advantage. I imagine, though, they must be rather noisy birds

to keep, for they have a disagreeable shriek. They ought not to

be at all delicate, for we shot specimens near the Volcano of

Purace, by Popayan in Columbia, at an altitude of over 8,000 ft.

In passing through the little village of Carmen (still in

Columbia) on our ride from Buenaventura to Cali, we saw the

same birds in immense clouds, coming from their feeding grounds

in the high mountain forests, to pass the night in the little

sheltered valley below. Carmen could boast of little else in the

way of vegetation but bamboos, which grew in great thickets, and

every branch of these giant grasses was literally weighing down

with its burden of C. rubrolarvatus. The noise was simply deaf¬

ening ! Those we shot by the acid waterfall of Parace, in the month

of May, 1898, were undoubtedly nesting in the crevices of the per¬

pendicular cliffs there: for on the report of our firearms, numbers

of them flew screaming from the holes and ledges around. I

noticed, too, that the plumage of some was draggled, evidently

by sitting on their eggs.


I11 both the hot and temperate regions of Western

Ecuador, we collected a surprising number of members of the

Tanager family. These were I think, with only one exception,

of the most exquisite, and in some cases, remarkable arrange¬

ment and blending of colours. The exception was the Dusky

Tanager {Tanagrapalmaruvi). This bird is one of the very few

birds which is found on both Eastern and Western sides of the

Andes without any change in its plumage. It inhabits the hot

regions on both sides up to an altitude of perhaps 1,500 feet.

Seen in a good light, it is a dusky violet colour, with a lighter

head of a greenish reflection, and the same shade occurs on the

wings. It is about the same size as the Scarlet Tanager of Brazil,

but of a somewhat different shape. I am writing of the bird

without having a skin at hand to refer to, but if I remember

rightly, it was impossible to distinguish the difference between

the sexes apart, but seen together, the male was a little brighter.

They strike one at once as being hardy birds, suitable for cage

life. They are not frequenters of the dense forests, I do not

remember that I found any of the Tanager family to be so,

although many of them like to hide about in bushes, and some



