Zoological Illustrations Series II/Plate 31
Golden back'd Tanager, male.
T. Flava.
AGLAÏA flava.
Yellow Tanager.
Specific Character.
Above glossy fulvous yellow; sides of the head, and middle of the throat, breast, and body, deep black; wings and tail green.
Tanagra flava. Lath. In. Orn. 1, 431.
Tanagra Braziliensis flava. Briss. Orn. 3, 39, 22.
Le guira-perea. Buff. Son. 12, p. 362.
Yellow Tanager. Lath. Syn. 3, 244. Gen. Hist. 4, 22.
Tanagra chloroptera. Vieil. Orn. 2.
The buff-coloured yellow which spreads over the upper plumage of this bird, in some lights becomes much richer, and delicately gilded. The wings appear to be sea-green, but this colour only margins the borders of the feathers, the inner parts of which are blackish: the tail is coloured in the same way, the feathers divaricating from the middle, which is slightly forked. The black in front terminates at the vent; which, with the sides of the body, are waxen yellow.
In the Ornithology of M. Vieillot, we find no mention of this well known bird by its long established name: but the T. chloroptera of this writer, described as a new species, is evidently no other than the flava of anterior authors.
Our figure is of the natural size. The female is dark bluish green above, and buff beneath, much paler on the throat and breast: the chin and sides of the head blackish; and the crown buff-coloured yellow.
We found this species not uncommon in several parts of Brazil, particularly round Pernambucco; frequenting the gardens, and feeding on the smaller-sized fruits.