6 4



Mr. E. W. Harper,



So long as it can be proved that a certain type is constant

to locality, and not connected by intergrades with any other, I

have no objection to it being regarded as sub-specifically distinct,

though I should prefer to call it a distinct species ; but when, as

is admitted to be the case in many of the so-called sub-species

recognised in the United States, the greater number of the

named forms grade into each other and require to be arbitrarily

fixed by geographical boundaries, no difference being dis¬

cernible, the whole thing ceases to be scientific and resolves

itself into a sport no more elevating than that indulged in by

children, when they sort marbles by size and colour, in both

cases no doubt it educates the eye, and that is all that can be said

in its favour. The old system in which a species was described

as “widely distributed, becoming larger and brighter towards

the westward extremity of its range,” answered every scientific

purpose without cumbering the ground with useless multi¬

tudinous names, and adding greatly to the labours of the

museum student and cataloguer.



NOTES ON AVICULTURE IN GEORGETOWN,

DEMERARA.


By E. Wilriam Harper, F.Z.S.


(<Continued from page 38).


The Tanagers or “ sackies ” naturally on account of their

beauty alone claim many admirers. Those most commonly

caged are the Blue ( 71 episcopus) ; the Palm or “ brown sackie ” (71

palmarum ) ; and the Violet or “ yellow-bellied canar}' ” ( Euphonia

vio laced). Others less common are the tiny Pigmy (£. mimita ),

first introduced into England by Captain Pam, and differing

from violacea in its smaller size and by having a purplish-black

throat instead of a yellow one ; the Maroon or “ cashew sackie”

( Ramphoccelus jacapa ), with its Chaffinch-like cry of “ fink, fink ” ;

the Magpie or “ French sackie” (Cissopis leveriana ) ; the Black;

the Great Saltator or “ tom-pitcher” ( Saltato? magnus), in which

birds of the 3'ear have the eye-brow streak yellowish green,

changing later to white ; the Blue-and-Black {Calliste brazilensis) ;



