io8



Dr. A. G. Butler,



behind into rich purplish ultramarine: wings and tail below

slaty-blackish ; beak black ; feet blackish ; irides brown.


The female has the head and neck of a distinctly bluer

emerald-green ; the feathers on back of neck generally showing

more of their black bases than in the male; the lower back and

rump of a brighter more golden orange, by no means so dark as

in the male.


In addition to these colour differences, the beak of the

male is very noticeably heavier, both broader and longer than in

the female. Hab. : Pernambuco.


The above descriptions are taken from fully adult birds

which have attained their highest degree of colouring: young

males, when seen sideways to the light, have the head and neck

much more blue than old males; but, when compared with

females, make the colouring of the latter look distinctly dingy ;

a young male has the lower back and rump of the same golden

cadmium as a fully adult female. *


No doubt the apparent variation in the colouring of male

birds, due to age, explains why systematists have not indicated

the above colour-differences. It is necessary to observe the

change of colour in captive specimens, to arrive at the reason for

the seemingly inconstant coloration of head and lower back.


Very little has been published respecting the wild life of

the Superb Tanager : it appears to have been usually seen near

the tops of tall trees, only descending towards the ground to feed

or to nest. It is probable that, like the Three-coloured Tanager,

it builds its nest of flower-stalks and grasses, ornamented outside

with dead leaves, fragments of bark or tufts of cotton ; lined

inside with broad smooth leaves, and at the bottom of the cavity

with fine grass and hair. The eggs, in like manner, are probably

two to three in number, pinkish with deeper speckling all over

and a few larger browner markings enclosing black lines.

Whether, like its near relative, it also builds in banana-trees,

remains to be seen. At various times I have had seven of these

gorgeous birds ; but, either owing to their poor condition when

purchased or some slight error in feeding, only one of them lived

for more than two and a half years, and yet I believe I fed them



* Much deeper, however, than my oldest female.



