ORDER PASSERES. 489 



quentJy the case in the feathered kingdom, this external beauty 

 is not accompanied by any corresponding melody or power of 

 voice: very few indeed of the tanagers possess agreeable 

 notes. Their movements are rapid and abrupt, their flight 

 lively, and their natural disposition active and inconsiderate. 

 They rarely descend to the earth, and when they do, they pro- 

 ceed by jumps, not walking. Some frequent the interior 

 of large forests, where they are attracted by certain berries 

 of which they are extremely fond. Others usually sojourn 

 on the borders of woods, and others in the dry grounds, where 

 they conceal themselves in bushes and briars ; others again 

 prefer the summits of trees, and many visit rural habitations, 

 where they frequent the gardens and the meadows. Such 

 species love the society of their fellows, and unite in flocks 

 more or less numerous : others live in families, some in pairs, 

 and some even solitarily. The tanagers which are stationary 

 in the torrid zone, hatch at different seasons, but they lay a 

 smaller number of eggs than the natives of temperate climates. 



America is the country of the tanagers ; and the greatest 

 number of species are found in the Equinoxial part of that 

 vast continent. Certain authors have imposed this name on 

 birds of Africa, the East Indies, and even the Caucasian 

 mountains ; but it is at the least extremely doubtful that they 

 appertain to this genus. 



The Tanagra Canora possesses an agreeable voice, and is 

 accordingly occasionally kept in a slate of captivity. The 

 Tanagra Striata frequents rural habitations, and does much 

 mischief in the gardens of Paraguay by destroying legumi- 

 nous plants, oranges, grapes, and other kinds of fruit. Buffbn 

 has given it the name of Onglet, from a small concentric groove, 

 exhibited on the lateral facet of each claw. 



The Tanagra Musicals called, in the districts of St. Do- 

 mingo, the organist, or musician, because in its song it runs 

 through all the tones ascending from the bass to the treble. 

 It is extremely mistrustful, and escapes the fowler by turning 

 round the branches with extraordinary dexterity. 



