zz6 Dr. A. G. Buti.ee,


Brazilian Hanguest comes from S. Eastern Brazil, so that it is

odd that they should be confounded by importers.


Dr. Russ quotes some notes on the habits of this species

made by Dr. Guudlach at Porto Rico ; but they are not only

meagre, but probably apply to /. portoricensis.


Dr. Hartert writing of this species in an article " On the

Birds of the Islands of Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire" {Ibis 1893,

pp. 297-8) observes that " Peters says that this bird occurs on

Curacao, and is said to be paler than the continental form " this

he does not agree with, his specimens having very bright colours.

Further he observes : "I did not find any nests ; but, as every-

body on Curacao knows, they are totally different from those of

Icterus xanthomas in not having the long tube.* 5


" This is much appreciated as a cage-bird 011 account of

its pure flute-like notes, and is often sent for sale from Venezuela.


"This species is not rare in certain places, such as the

rocky hills covered with brushwood and cactus, both on Aruba

and Curacao, but it is absent from Bonaire, thus indicating its

immigration from the continent. I saw it in the bush on St.

Thomas, where it has already been stated to occur by Ridgway

It may have been introduced into that island ; but, on account

of other affinities between the Omis of St. Thomas and that of

Curacao, this is very questionable." I have been unable to

obtain any further particulars as to the wild life of this species.


In December 1906 Miss Joan Gladstone sent me her

Hanguest, as it rendered itself objectionable to other birds in

the aviary with it. When this bird first arrived and I compared

it with that which I purchased in 1899, I felt certain that it was

a distinct species, on account of its possession of the following

distinctive characters : —


Bird purchased in 1899.


Stoutish in figure, bright orange and black, tail with all the

feathers entirely black ; median wing-coverts yellowish-white ;

naked orbital patch completely encircling the eye. Song mono-

tonous, consisting of one slurred dissyllabic note repeated loudly

at first, afterwards more softly.


* /. xanthornus is a species with black median coverts as in I.jamacaii.



