THE



Avicultural Magazine


THE JOURNAL OF THE

AVICULTURAL SOCIETY



Fifth Series .-—VoL III.—No. 1 1,—All rights reserved. NOVEMBER, 1938.



THE RED-BELLIED TANAGER


Poecilothraupis lunulata atricrissa Cab.


By C. S. Webb


The Red-bellied Tanager is found in the Andes of South America at

high altitudes from Colombia to Peru, but the race P. 1. atricissa is

confined to the Eastern and Western Andes of Ecuador.


It inhabits the well-wooded temperate regions where the nights are

very cold and where, especially in the rainy season, the countryside

is frequently enveloped in cold mist.


It belongs to a group of large Tanagers which might be called

Mountain Tanagers as they are confined to the Andes and include such

magnificent genera as Poecilothraupis, Buthraupis, and Compsocoma.

They are all large and mostly very beautiful.


The Red-bellied Tanager is usually to be seen at altitudes ranging

from 10,000 to 12,000 feet, but it is now getting very scarce on the

western slopes of the Andes owing to rapid destruction of the forest

by woodcutters and charcoal burners who get an easy living supplying

Quito with fuel. Fortunately the eastern Andes are rather distant

from the capital and a journey there necessitates travelling three

days by mule, with a pass 14,000 feet high to be crossed. When this

freezing cold atmosphere is left behind and one descends to about

12,000 feet, the scene changes to wonderful dense primitive forest,

untouched by the ravages of civilization, where birds can easily find an



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