337



on ihe Orange-billed Tanager.



secured these birds (together with a consignment of so-called

Brown-throated Cardinals, Yellowish Finches, and three Red

Oven-birds), and I considered myself fortunate in being able to

buy one of them: it was said to feed upon canary-seed only,

and had apparently been imported upon that diet; but, seeing

the Tanagrine character of the beak, I felt doubtful as to this

being its correct diet, and I soon discovered that it greatly

preferred soft food, fruit and insects, though it would occasionally

eat a little canary-seed which I scattered upon the floor of the

cage and sometimes would eat a few grains from a small pan:

all the seeds were husked in the orthodox manner.


Orange, ripe figs split lengthwise, ripe pears, and grapes,

were eaten with great relish. For soft food I gave my regular

mixture,—bread crumbs, powdered sweet biscuit, yolk of egg,

and ants’ eggs; of this it ate moderately, but evidently preferred

it when mixed with grade i of “ Century Food.” In the matter

of insects it was not particular, leaving all other food to seize

cockroaches, mealworms, caterpillars, or the so-called rat-tailed

flies (Eristalis tenax) which buzz about the Michaelmas daisies

and closely resemble honey-bees : any of these it would take

from my fingers after its second day in my possession.


I suppose the unnatural diet upon which this bird had

been fed during its importation had sown the seeds of the

disease from which it eventually died, for two or three days after

the Saltator came into my possession I noticed that it became

sleepy and sluggish ; and although, by clearing my garden of

every spider I could find, and particularly the full-grown females

of our old friend the typical garden-spider (Epeira diademataj,

I restored it in a few days to apparently good health and increased

activity, it subsequently relapsed to such an extent that, although

it bathed regularly, it never took the trouble to cleanse its

feathers by passing them through its beak. Doubtless the chill

of the matted plumage, which naturally became clogged on the

breast with sand and juices from the fruit, accelerated the

progress of the disease, so that on November 4th I found it dead. 4 ' 4



* So far as I have been able to ascertain, it would appear that none of the

examples imported in 1903 are now alive.



