Alfred Newton

“ Most of them are remarkable for their gaudy colouring, and this is especially the case in those forming the genus called by Mr Sclater, as by most other authors, Calliste, a term inadmissible through preoccupation, to which the name of Tanagra of right seems to belong, while that which he names Tanagra should probably be known as Thraupis. The whole Family is almost confined to the Neotropical Region, and there are several forms peculiar to the Antilles; but not a tenth of the species reach even southern Mexico, and not a dozen appear in the northern part of that country. ”

“ They have a pleasing song, and build a shallow nest, in which the eggs, generally 3 in number and of a greenish-blue marked with brown and purple, are laid.
On a whole the Tanagridæ may perhaps be considered to hold the same relation to the Fringillidæ as the Icteridæ do to the Sturnidæ and the Mniotiltidæ to the Sylviidæ or Turdidæ, in each case the purely New-World Family being the “feebler” type. (a. n.) ”