on the Archbishop Tanager.



1 S 3



them readily : unlike the other Tanagers which I have kept,

they did not care for cockroaches; spiders they delighted in,

also green caterpillars and house-flies.


The surviving bird soon lost his tendency to sneeze, and

became perfectly bright and happy : he moulted very gradually

about September, appearing eventually in faultless plumage.

Familiarity, which is said to breed contempt, undoubtedly does

develop confidence in birds; for this Archbishop Tanager will

now sometimes take a mealworm from my fingers, though not

with the same boldness as my two old friends the Scarlet

Tanagers; but then I bought the latter on November 19th, 1S97,

so that I have had them over seven years.


The attitude of the Archbishop Tanager as shown by Mr.

Gronvold will probably not commend itself to the student of

skins, who usually admires a conventional attitude for his figured

birds : thus a Game-bird must always be represented with one

leg off the ground and the toes clenched; a Finch must be re¬

presented either out of balance sitting stiffiy, or must be pitch¬

ing forwards as if about to dive into a pond ; a Wader must have

its hinder leg hitched up almost at right angles to the other,

the tibio-tarsus sloped in to touch the latter, and all the claws

bent backwards ; and so on* But, when I have a drawing made

from life, I like to sit down with the artist and watch the bird,

until we are both convinced as to what is its favourite attitude ;

and in that attitude I have it represented.


The ‘Archbishop’ is a very active and alert bird, almost

as quick in its movements as a Liotlirix : therefore, to represent

it sitting in the heavy sleepy attitude of a Bullfinch or even of

the Scarlet Tanager when at rest (though it would doubtless

be approved by those not familiar with it in life) would be

misleading.


I expect Frohawk’s illustration of my Diamond-Sparrows

courting has been considered unnatural, though copied from and

absolutely true to life ; and I know that the plate of my Blue-

bearded Jay was spoken of as “comical,” though it represents

two of the most frequent attitudes of the bird.



* Good bird-artists will not always follow out these stereotyped rules, and their drawings

are consequently criticized as “ unnatural.”



