406 M. Sundevall on the Birds of Calcutta. 



cutta. It was often seen from February to April, in small 

 flocks of five to seven together. These commonly showed them- 

 selves during flight by their well-known scream, which in the 

 open air resembled the note of a Jackdaw, somewhat like tjeh ! 

 They were seen both sitting in trees and walking on the ground 

 in quest of food, which consists of rice, fruits, &c. The flight is 

 very strong and steady, often high above the tops of the trees, 

 and they are frequently seen to fly over the town^of Calcutta. 

 The screaming of such a small flock flying overhead was the first 

 bird-note which greeted me as I ascended the river to Calcutta. 

 They were recognised by their voice to be parrots, which I should 

 not perhaps have otherwise guessed, as we are accustomed to con- 

 sider these birds as very poor fliers. They are very wary and shy, 

 so that it is not easy to shoot them. I consequently only got 

 one, the female above-described, but one often sees them in cages, 

 in all the shops and bazaars ; and in the country houses parrots, 

 chained by the foot to a large suspended ring, form a frequent 

 ornament, and this species occurs incomparably the commonest. 

 The price too is lower than that of the other species ; they may 

 be bought for one or at most two rupees. These caged Parrokeets 

 commonly flutter and scream so, that in a large bazaar one can 

 hardly hear a person speak ; they often get loose, and one may 

 frequently see them hanging by their chain, unable to help them- 

 selves up. They are always taught to speak some words, as was 

 the custom even before Alexander's time. It is remarkable that 

 even the Americans, before the arrival of Europeans, knew how to 

 teach parrots to talk, and Humboldt records (in his ' Ansichten 

 der Natur ') a bird of this kind, obtained from one of the small 

 tribes of South America, which spoke a language .unknown to the 

 present inhabitants of that country, it having belonged to a tribe 

 which a short time before had been exterminated. The Benga- 

 lese name of P. torquatus is Thee (the th pronounced as in En- 

 glish). This is evidently the species which Pliny describes (lib. 10. 

 cap. 42) as coming from India, but the first Parrokeet which 

 came to Europe during Alexander's expedition to India was pro-* 

 bably P. alexandri, which differs from this, in having a red spot 

 on the wings and in its larger size. 



56. Psittacus bengalensis, Gm., Kuhl. — Palseornis bengalensis, 

 Wagl. Monogr. 



Viridis, capite pallide roseo, postice eserulescente ; torque tenui 

 gulaque nigris. Macula alarum antica obscure rubra. 



<§ (d. 12 Febr.) maxilla superior fulva, inferior nigra. Orbita 

 anguste nuda, et iris alba?. Corpus subtus paullo dilutius. Priori 

 minor: ala 137 mill., cauda minus elongata. 



