: I'.l
i
i ,
i l l
•
T H E VIOLET TANAGER,
Eiiphonia violacea. LINN.
r p H I S bird IS an inhabitant of Guiana, Trinidad, the Lower Amazons, and South-
-A- eastern Brazil. Its colonring, though less dazzling than that of the f^r -
go ng species, IS nevertheless exceedingly beautiful: above, it is of a dark s li iTne
. . o l e t blue, with the front of the head to a line with the eyes orange-y Ho
he under snrfaee it is orange-yellow, beeoining rather pale towards fhe ve u ' t^
tail beneath is blaek, .ath white patches on the two outer rectrices; the .vinTbeW
are black, with a large white patch occupying the inner webs of tWe a t h r
the bill and legs blaek. Entire length 3/„ inches feathers,
of - olive-green, but below yellowish olive; the inner webs
of the wing-feathers being white at the base.
The Violet Tanager has two near relations , - i ? . h:.u.nd^^acea from Southern
Mexico and Central America, as far as Costa Rica, which may be distiu" si ed
by the steel-blue colouring of its back, and C. gnatho, from Costa ^ otll
which differs in its more powerful, swollen bill.
Dr Russ thus speaks of the Violet Tanager, which he calls "The Common
Piper" gannne Sometimes common in the market H rm1 ^
peaceable in the bird-room. Song droll, ventriloc,uial i n «
prolonged sounds and tones not without beauty, industrious; decicl d
superior songster, however, as it has been fabled. All these chaining ^ L r ea
fruit (so t pears they will empty clean out, right up to the thin p S
egg-bread in nrarvellous quantities, and they produce a corresponding l i l t of
dir . They are, moreover, very frail, did not live long enough to breed T m;
birf-room, though I had a good many pairs; hitherto have ^only go" t .e^^
• We should be glad to obtain then, at this rate i„ England.