THE


Avicultural Magazine


BEING THE JOURNAL OF

THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY

FOR THE STUDY OF

FOREIGN & BRITISH BIRDS

IN FREEDOM & CAPTIVITY


Third Series. —Vol. XII.—No. 11 .—All rights reserved. NOVEMBER, 1921.



BREEDING OF THE SALTATOR TANAGER


By Herbert Bright


Last autumn Mr. Rogers, of Liverpool, sent me a line saying lie

had some South American stock in and would I care to have a look,

so I went round to see what had arrived. Amongst the arrivals were

some large brown birds like Grosbeaks, which I had not previously seen,

so I selected what I thought would be a true pair. I have since

discovered that they are Saltator Tanagers, apparently Saltator

aurantiirostris. One bird showed a yellow under mandible, and

the other, which was similar to several of the others, had two

dark mandibles. This proved to be a hen, but as she was about

the cleanest and strongest of the lot I was half afraid it might

turn out to be a young cock. I took them home, and in a few

days let them out in the large aviary. The hen at once gathered a few

sticks and straws together, and with a little hay made the beginning

of a nest, but it was never completed, and they soon took no notice of

it. In the early spring I drove all the birds into the bird house, and did

not let them out again until all the shrubs and trees had made a good

start and the aviary had been cleaned up generally. As soon as they

had the chance of getting out of doors again they began to build a

large strong nest in an elder. The nest was formed of strong twigs

as the foundation, smaller twigs, hay, rootlets, etc., being placed on

top, and the inside lined with hair, fibre, and fine hay. The outside of

the nest was rough and not unlike a large blackbird’s, but well-finished

inside. The hen laid and commenced to sit, and I went to have a peep

Avhen she was off to see what the nest and eggs were like. T could

see into it and did not disturb it in any way, but she never went near it



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