9 S



thought they had nests at that time, for they always kept in

pairs ; but on second thoughts, I hardty think they could have

been nesting then, for they were in heavy moult, and I remember

it was quite difficult to get one in good plumage ; so after getting

about three specimens we gave up shooting them. Many of them

had hardly a feather in their tails. I was so ill with fever during

almost the whole of our stay at this unhealthy place, that I could

not get out to pay as much attention to their habits as I should

have liked. The Indians used the skins of these birds largely in

their ornaments. I never saw them in the forests. I think they

always kept to the open parts. A very striking looking Tanager

we got at the same place was the Masked Tanager, R. nigrigularis.

It is the same size as the Scarlet Tanager, but a handsomer

bird. The crown of the head and neck are a most intense

scarlet, the feathers resembling scales. It has, what resembles a

black velvet mask over the lower part of the face and throat, just

reaching to above the eyes. The back and breast are scarlet,

but a patch of black extends from the vent half way up the breast,

going off into a point. The wings and tail are black, and there is

a baud of black across the shoulders. The beak is also black with

bluish grey at the sides of the lower mandible. The female

resembles the male, but the black, especially on the underparts,

is very brownish, and the scarlet not so intense. At the Coca

we only obtained one pair, killed together with a single shot;

but lower down the river at the Tiputini, for several evenings in

succession at sunset, a flock of at least thirty of these birds

alighted for a short time on the highest twigs of a small tree

near our hut. These were the only two places at which we saw

these birds on the river. At the Tiputini we also procured some

of the lovely Bolivian Turquoise Tanagers ( C . boliviano). These

birds were also shot always toward sunset, and close to the hut.

I don’t see why they are called Turquoise Tanagers, for the blue

on them is decidedly a violet blue.


At Iquitos, on the Upper Amazon (and also on the Napo)

we obtained the indescribably beautiful Paradise Tanager (C.

yeni). Birds at Iquitos were conspicuous by their almost entire

absence. So I was surprised one day, when the old man who

fetched our washing, brought me one of those exquisite

creatures still warm and with a piece of string tied to its leg.

It appears he had stunned it with a blow pipe among the banana

trees in his little garden in the town. He had kept it alive for

some time, tied up with a bit of string, but I found it was

internally injured. I wanted him to procure me some alive, but



