THE PAPUAN LORY. ;J80 



increase, for after a few circuits round the place they again alighted near me, looking down on 

 their slaughtered companions with such manifest symptoms of sympathy and concern as 

 entirely disarmed me." 



The same graceful writer then proceeds to observe, with that accuracy of detail for which 

 his works are so valuable, "I could not but take notice of the remarkable contrast between 

 their elegant manner of flight, and their lame, crawling gait, among the branches. They fly 

 very much like the wild pigeon in close, compact bodies, and with great rapidity, making 

 a loud and outrageous screaming, not unlike that of the red -headed woodpecker. Their 

 flight is sometimes in a direct line, but most usually circuitous, making a great variety of 

 elegant and easy serpentine meanders as if for pleasure. 



"They are particularly attached to the large sycamores, in the hollows of the trunks and 

 branches of which they generally roost ; thirty or forty, and sometimes more, entering at the 

 same hole. Here they cling close to the sides of the tree, holding fast by the claws anjd also 

 by the bill. They appear to be fond of sleep, and often retire to their holes during the day, 

 probably to take a regular siesta. They are extremely sociable with and fond of each other, 

 often scratching each other's heads and necks, and always at night nestling as close as possible 

 to each other, preferring at that time a perpendicular position, supported by their bill and 

 claws." 



The general color of this bird is green, washed with blue, and diversified with other tints 

 as follows : The forehead and cheeks are reddish-orange, the same tint is seen on the shoulders 

 and head and wings, and the neck and back of the head are pure golden-yellow. The upper 

 parts of the body are soft green, and the under portions are of the same hue, but with a 

 yellowish cast. The greater wing-coverts are yellow, tinged with green, the primary feathers 

 of the wing are deep purplish black, and the long wedge-shaped tail has the central feathers 

 streaked with blue along their central line. The female is colored after the same fashion, but 

 not so brightly, and the young of both sexes are green on the neck instead of yellow. The 

 total length of this species is about twenty-one inches. 



The Carolina Parrot (Conurus carolinensis) was once a very common species in the United 

 States east of the Rocky Mountains, being known along the Mississippi Valley to the Great 

 Lakes. They are now quite restricted. Like too many other instances, this bird has a specific 

 name of no significance. The bird is, according to Dr. Coues, "scarcely entitled to a place in 

 the fauna of South Carolina." 



As this Parrot is confined to such circumscribed areas, none being found south of the 

 United States, and in view of the already decreased numbers, it would seem almost inevitable 

 that the species will become at no distant day extinct. 



The habits of this bird are singular as compared with others of its race. We are accus- 

 tomed to seeing all of this race of birds confined within tropical limits. Here we have a 

 Parrot living the year through, west of the Alleghanies, in a cold climate ; and Barton writes 

 that a very large flock of them was seen northwest of Albany, N". Y., in the year 1780. 

 Wilson saw a flock, in the month of February, on the banks of the Ohio, in a snow-storm, flying 

 about and uttering their peculiar cry. Wilson states that these birds breed in hollow trees. 



THE LORIES. 



IN the Lories the bill is weaker than in the preceding species, and of smaller size, and the 

 plumage is very beautiful, scarlet being the predominating tint. 



The PAPUAN LORY is, as its name denotes, a native of Papua and other parts of New 

 Guinea, and has always attracted great attention on account of its beautiful form and rich 

 coloring. In its general shape it is not unlike the ring Parrakeet, the contour of the body 

 being very similar and the tail boldly graduated, with the two central feathers projecting far 

 beyond the rest. This elongated form of the tail-feathers is so unusual in the Lories, which 

 mostly have rather short and stumpy tails, that it has induced systematic naturalists to place 

 the bird in a genus distinct from the other Lories. Many specimens of this lovely bird have 



