516 



BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



birds will be seen flitting from tree to tree especially in gardens, 

 these are the Blue Sackies {Tanagra episcopus). The nests made 

 of small sticks, pieces of cane-trash, etc., and lined with dry grass, 

 may be found hidden in the leaves of many low trees ; the eggs, 

 tnually three in number, are of a greyish white, spotted with 

 different shades of brown." 



Mr. J. J. Quelch (Timehri (2) v. p. 80), who observed this species 

 in Georgetown, remarks : — " Very closely allied to the preceding- 

 are the Blue Sackies, though the name, taken from the note of 

 the bird, can hardly be said to be really imitative of their cry. 

 This bird is of a uniform pale blue-colour throughout, with a much 

 shorter and narrower bill than the rather larger Cashew Sackies. 

 In their habits they very closely resemble that species, though 

 they are considerably more shy, and are seldom to be seen among 

 the house-gardens in the city. About the outskirts of the town 

 they are fairly numerous, flitting about the various fruit-trees and 

 seed-bearing plants.-' 



676. Thraupis melanoptera. 



Western Palm Tanager. 



Tanagra olivascens Cab. in Schomb. Eeis. Guian. iii. p. 670, 1848. 

 Tanagra melanoptera Sclater, P. Z. S. 1856, p. 235 (Eastern Peru). 

 Tanagra palmarum (nee Wied) Salvin, Ibis, 1885, p. 210 (Barfcica 



Grove, Roraima, 3000^000 ft).; Sclater, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. 



p. 159, 1886 (Bartica Grove, Eoraima). 

 Tanagra palmarum melanoptera Beebe, Our Search for a Wilderness, 



p. 144, 1910 (Hoorie Creek). 

 Thraupis melanoptera Braboorne & Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 416, 



no. 4281, 1912. 

 Thraupis palmarum palmarum Beebe, Tropical Wild Life in British 



Guiana, p. 137, 1917 (Bartica). 



" Palm-Sakie" {Quelch). 



Adult male. Crown of head, nape, sides of face, chin, and 

 upper wing-coverts olive-green, which extends on to the quills ; 

 the feathers on the back dark brown tipped with olive-green ; 

 upper tail-coverts rather paler than the back; primarj-coverts 

 and flight-quills soot-brown, tinged with olive on the outer webs, 

 and a large patch of white on the basal portion of the inner webs ; 

 tail soot-brown margined with olive-green on the outer webs of 

 the feathers ; breast, sides of body, abdomen, and under tail- 



