As our space only permits us to mention a few of these birds, we will first select the TANGARAS PROPER, as being the largest of this family. The beak of the True Tangaras is compressed and slightly bent, conical, and almost straight at the tip; the wings are pointed, and of moderate length; the tail is long, and broad at the end, which is somewhat forked, and of a green or blue colour; the plumage presents but little variety in species.
THE ORNATE TANGARA.
The Ornate Tangara (Tangara ornata) is four inches long, the tail measuring about three inches more, and the wing three inches from the shoulder to the tip. The plumage of the male is bright blue upon the head, neck, breast, and lower part of the body, with a greyish shade where the roots of the feathers are visible; the middle of the belly, legs, and rump are greenish grey; the back is of a dirty greenish grey, shaded with blue; the lesser wing-covers are blue at the shoulder; the smallest feathers of these parts are lemon yellow, and the remainder of the wing greyish brown, each feather being bordered with green. The tail is a greyish brown, its middle portion shaded with green, the rest only edged with that colour. All such parts as are blue in that of her mate are in the plumage of the female greyish green, shaded with blue; the green and yellow markings of the wings being much paler and more indistinct.
All the countries from the Amazon to Guiana, and the woods upon the coast of Brazil, afford a home to these birds; they seem to prefer the shelter of the plantations that abound in these districts to the sombre retreat of large forests, and pass their active, cheerful little lives in the immediate neighbourhood of man, to whose orange and lemon trees they are at once ornaments and formidable enemies. Except during the pairing season these Tangaras have no song, but merely utter a simple and monotonous call-note. The nest is built upon a tree, and resembles that of a Greenfinch.
Our knowledge of the North American Tangaras is much more extensive. We shall confine ourselves, however, to the mention of two species belonging to the group denominated.
FIRE TANGARAS (Pyranga). The members of this group are slender, their wings long, pointed, and reaching almost to the middle of the rounded tail. Their beak is strong, conical, vaulted, and strongly compressed at the margins; the edges of the upper mandible are somewhat bent outwards, and jagged towards the middle portion, but straight near its extremity, where there is a scarcely perceptible notch. The plumage of these birds is thick and smooth, that of the male being generally red, that of the female yellow.
THE FLAX BIRD.