MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



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this needless slaughter Mr. Boardman i„us writes : " The little parokeet 

 must soon be exterminated. Some of our Enterprise party would 

 sometimes shoot forty or fifty at a few discharges, for sport, as they 

 hover about when any are shot until the whole flock is destroyed." 

 From its habit of feeding upon the tender maize in autumn, it is some- 

 times somewhat injurious to the farmer, and for this cause many are 

 also killed. It is also more or less hunted as a game-bird. It is well 

 known that the parokeet formerly inhabited large portions of the United 

 States where it is now never seen, and the cause of its disappearance 

 has been deemed a mystery. Such facts as these, however, seem to 

 render clear what its ultimate fate must be in the United States, — ex- 

 termination. 



I could learn nothing from the inhabitants in regard to the time, 

 manner, or place of breeding of this species, even old residents pro- 

 fessing total ignorance in regard to these points. 



The following table of measurements of specimens of this species serves 

 to indicate its average size and proportions in Florida. In mature speci- 

 mens the sexual difference in color and size is very slight. Neither sex 

 acquires its adult colors before the second or third year. 



The average size of the nineteen specimens (six males and thirteen 

 females) cited below is as follows: Length, 13.10; alar extent, 21.76; 

 wing, 7.59. 



The extremes are as follows : — 



Length, 12.50 and 13.60 (both specimens females); alar extent, 21.10 

 (female) and 22.50 (male) ; wing 7.00 and 7.85. These specimens seem 

 to indicate a tolerable constancy in general size and proportions. 



Measurements of Florida Specimens of Conurus carolinensis. 



