My Tniiagers — Vaat nvd Present. 
the ill ofTects of which arc only obviated, to my mind, by tlie 
frantic exercise he takes in ceaselessly singinf,-- a discordant 
little song, which he does with mad energy, and a great risk 
of cracking his small throat. I have always to be careful not 
to put his food tin near that of any bird alongside him, or he 
immediately starts a kind of frenzied " eating-match " against 
his neighbour, which cannot be good for the digestion I 
My Scarlet Tanager I have had since 1909, but despite 
all these years he still remains extremely wild— which bears 
out a remark of Miss Bousfield's — and cannot be induced to 
take any friendly interest in us, nor has he ever condescended 
to take mealworms, of which he is extremely fond, from my 
hand. Undoubtedly the most difficult to keep in good condition 
and plumage, or indeed to keep at all, for any length of time, 
is the Festive. I have owned two — one a very fine specimen 
with specially good colouring, which I managed to keep for 
two years, but he died suddenly in 1913, after taking 2nd at 
the L.C.B.A. Show in 1912. I purchased another in 1913, 
but cannot get him into show form, and he has not come at all 
satisfactorily through his last moult. The All -Green or Neck- 
lace, also seem delicate, but these are the only two varieties, 
out of the seventeen I have had, which have been at all really 
difficult to manage. Perhaps I ought to add the Pretre's 
Tanager to this list, as I have l^een unlucky with two out of 
three of these. This I regret all the more as they are most 
tame and friendly birds, and ceaselessly sing a reedy little 
song, which never rises above a whisper, although like the 
vocal efforts of the Blue -Headed Euphonia, it is produced 
with much exertion! But space presses and I must not par- 
ticularize any more, but pass on to their general treatment. 
My Tanagers are all kept in cages, good sized cages, 
but by no means enormous ones — and they live in them all 
the year round — as I have no aviary of any kind. They are 
in a room which gets the morning sun, sucli as it is in this 
smcky manufacturing district of the West Biding, and is Jieated 
by a fire during the winter months. I try to keep it as near 
60 degrees as possible, and it seldom varies more than a 
couple of degrees either day or night. The top of a high 
window, well above the birds, is opened, generally for half 
an hour a day during the winter, unless the bleak winds which 
