THK t'AKiiM.NA PAKRAJvKET. 347 



great extent, first above the trees, and then graduall}- lowcrmg, until the}' almost touch 

 the ground, when suddenlj' rc-ascending, they all settle on the tree that bears the fruit of 

 ^^'luch they are in quest, or on one close to the field in which thej' expect to regale 

 themselves.'' 



A rapid!}- increasing population, attended b}- an extended cultivation, and the 

 consequent destruction of many of those ancient and decayed trees which constituted the 

 dormitories and breeding sites of t lie species, as well as the war constantly waged against 

 them by the husbandmen, as the depredators of the orchard and corn-stacks, are probably 

 the chief causes of theii- rapid diminution in those parts which they formerly enlivened 

 with their gay and varied plumage. We learn from both authors, that when engaged 

 in feeding, they are easil}' approached, and numbers killed by one discharge ; as the 

 whole flock alight and feed close to each other. The work of destruction, moreover, is 

 not confined to a single shot ; for we are told, that " the survivors rise, shriek, fly round 

 for a few minutes, and again alight on the very place of most imminent danger. The 

 gun is kept at work ; eight, ten, or even twenty are killed at every discharge ; the living 

 birds, as if conscious of the death of their companions, sweep over their bodies, screaming 

 loud as ever, but still returning to the attack to be shot at, until so few remaia alive, 

 that the farmer does not consider it worth his while to spend more of his ammunition." 

 Injurious, however, as they no doubt frequently are .to the cultivator, their principal 

 food is said to be the Cocklc-hurr, the seed of the Zantliiian sfntinarium, a plant tliat 

 abounds throughout the rich alluvial lands of the States west of the Alleghany mountains; 

 it is a weed noxious to the husbandman on many accounts, and the consumption of its 

 seed by the piarrots must therefore be of some advantage, though that is, unfortunately 

 for them, greatly diminished from the circumstance of its possessing a perennial root. 



Like the rest of the group to which it belongs, the Carolina arara appears incapable 

 of learning to articulate words, though, when captured, it soon becomes tame, and will 

 eat almost immediately afterwai-ds. Wilson gives a long and interesting account of an 

 individual that he had slightly wounded in the wing during one of his excmsions, and 

 which he carried for a great distance in his pocket. It soon became familiarised to 

 confinement, learnt to know its name, to come when called on, to sit on his shoulder, to 

 climb up his clothes, eat from his mouth, &c. On accoimt of its inability to articulate, and 

 its loud disagreeable screams, the arara is seldom kept caged in America ; and, as Audubon 

 observes, the woods are best fitted for them, and there the richness of their plumage, 

 their beautiful mode of flight, and even their screams, aiford welcome intimation that the 

 darkest forests and most sequestered swamps are not destitute of charms. According to 

 this author, their nest, or rather the place where they deposit their eggs, is the bottom 

 of the cavities of decayed trees. " Man}^ females," he observes, " deposit their eggs 

 together," and the number laid by each individual, he believes, is two — a nimiber which 

 seems to prevail throughout the great body of the family. The eggs are round, and of a 

 light greenish white, and the young, when excluded, and before they acquire their 

 feathers, are covered with a soft down. 



The plumage of the first few months is green, but towards autumn they acquire a 

 frontlet of carmine. Upon the gi'ound they are slow and awkward, walking as if incom- 

 moded by their tail. When wounded, and attempted to be laid hold of, they turn to bite 

 with open bUl, and, if successful, inflict a very severe wound. They are said to delight 

 in sand or gravelly banks, where they may frequently be seen rolling and fluttering 

 about in the dust, at times picking up and swallowing a limited quantity. The lochs 

 and saline springs are also constantly frequented by them, salt appearing equally 

 agreeable to them as to pigeons, and various other birds and animals. The biU of the 

 Carolina arara is very hard and strong, the tip much thicker and rounder than in the 

 Psittacara group ; the tooth, or angidar process of the upper mandible, is well and 



