280 BIRDS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



instinct, as their movements do not always take place at 

 the same period of the year, and sometimes they remain 

 for several years in the same locality without making any 

 attempt to go away. 



It has been rather absurdly placed among British birds 

 by Morris on the strength of a few specimens shot in 

 several places, but of course these were escaped from 

 aviaries, in which, by the by, the passenger pigeon will 

 breed. It only lays one egg at a time, and feeds on all 

 kinds of grain and corn, as well as berries. 



THE PARROTS. 



The following occur in British America : — 



Family — Psittacidce. 

 Genus — 



1. C/uy satis. C. Icvaillanti. Levaillant's Amazon. 



2. BolborliyncJuts. B. viotiachus. Monk Parrakeet. 



3. Conurits. C. Icucotis. White-eared Conure. 



Levaillant's Amazon is a handsome bird of consider- 

 able size, larger than the well-known Grey. Its general 

 body colour is green, but the head and neck are primrose 

 3'ellow; the bill is white, and tlie legs and feet grey. It is 

 the next best imitator of human speech after the grey 

 parrot, which it occasionally equals, or even surpasses, in 

 linguistic capacity. It is met with in Demerara and the 

 adjacent parts of South America, is fairly hardy, and lives 

 for many years in confinement, eating grain of all kinds, 

 and a little fruit. The sexes are mucli alike in appearance, 

 but the male is the larger, and his head and neck of a 

 brighter shade of yellow. 



Several other kinds of araazons are found in Demerara 



