TANAGERS. 



Tanagridse. 



|NE of the handsomest and most characteristic families of American 

 birds are the Tanagers. "This beautiful group of birds is re- 

 presented in the United States by only five species, one of them 

 being somewhat doubtful as a member of our fauna; but in 

 tropical America, Tanagers form one of the principal elements of a 

 bird-fauna, which for variety has no parallel in any other part of the 

 world. It may interest the reader to know that the five families of 

 Neotropical birds which are represented by the greatest number of species, 

 are absolutely peculiar to America, these families being the Tanagers 

 (Tanagridas) , Tyrant Flycatchers (Tyrannidas) , Wood-hewers {Dendro- 

 calaptidse), Ant Thrushes {Formicariidae) , and Hummingbirds {Trochilidse) . 

 None of these families have even true representatives in any part of the 

 Old World, the Sun-birds {Nectar idiidse), which some have considered as representing 

 the Hummingbirds, belonging to even a different order (Passeres). There are besides 

 those named above, many families of birds, remarkable for brilliant coloring or other 

 characteristics, which are absolutely peculiar to the Neotropical region; prominent 

 examples being the Honey Creepers {Ccerebidse), Manakins {Pipridse), Cotingas 

 {Cotingidse), Puff-birds (Buccotiidfe) , Jacamars {Galbulidse), and Toucans' (iJa/npAasti- 

 dse). In number of species the Hummingbirds take the first rank, with nearly 450 

 known species, while the Tanagers follow soon after, with about 380 species, or nearly 

 as many kinds as are included in the entire land-bird fauna of North America ! With 

 such a multitudinous host ranged under two families alone, the statement seems less 

 remarkable that the grand total of tropical American birds is something like 4,000 

 species, or about one third of all that are known !" 



"In comparison with such boundless wealth of bird-life, the meagre Ornis of our 

 northern continent must seem a well-tilled, if not worn-out, field ; but notwithstanding 

 its comparative sterility, and long cultivation, by numerous devotees, there are more 



