NORTHWESTERN MEXICO. 295 



Fam. PsiTTACiD^. 



166. Slttace militaris (Linn.). 



" " Fiuscli, Abh. nat. Ver. zu Bremen, 1870, p. 352. 



Mazatlan, Grayson. 



"This magnificent sj)ecies inhabits tlio western part of Mexico; found only in that belt of land known as 

 the ' tierras calientes' which lies between the seacoast and the Coidilleias chain. Here it niigi-ates from one 

 locality to another in quest of food suited to its taste, but never crossing the pi-incipal chain to the eastward. 

 I h.ave found it, however, very far up the mountidns, at an altitude of three or four thous.md feet, when such 

 aliments as they were partial to being in season drew them from the lowlands to the mountains. It may be 

 found at all seasons of the year near the seacoast, fi-om Mazatlan southward to Acajiulco, but they are more 

 particularly abundant in the region of Rio Mazatlan, where they find plenty of subsistence in the great forest 

 here abounding. 



" The Guacamayo is so called by the natives from the fact that it never descends to the ground but once 

 during the year, and that is in the month of May ; hence the name literally translated means ' May Giiaca.' 

 They alight upon the ground at this season of the year in search of a certain kind of hard nut, of which they 

 are very fond, and no longer find in the trees which bear it. The tree of this nut the Mexicans call 'Ava,' a 

 species of ' Nux Vomica ' ; both the milky sap of the tree, as well as the fruit, are deadly poison to any other 

 animal but this parrot. The natives use the sap for stunning fish. The tree grows near the borders of rivers, 

 or in rich alluvial valleys, to a large size. The wood is white and tough, the outer bark armed with short and 

 Bharp spines; the leaf is broad and ovate; the pod that contains the fruit is spherical, and about twelve 

 inches in cireuiiiference, divided into sixteen sections, in each of which is the button-shaped kernel. The 

 shell is exceedingly hard, but the enormous bill and powerful jaws of the Guacamayo enables it to split each 

 one of the sections with apparent ease. From the time this nut commences to ripen in December until it 

 disappears about the beginning of spring, it forms the principal article of subsistence for this macaw. It also 

 feeds upon the small cocoanut, or nuts of the 'Royal Palm,' which are also very hard, but not proof against 

 the strong bill of this parrot. The weight of the Ava ball, when green, exceeds a pound, yet I h.ave seen 

 with surprise these parrots after gnawing off the tough stem, handle it in their huge claws without incon- 

 venience, and even fly a short distance with it in tlieir be.aks. It also feeds upon various species of Ac.icia 

 beans, together with other kinds of wild fruit ; the corn fields are sometimes visited by it. 



"The Guacamayo is gregarious, except during the breeding season, but continue in ])airs throughout the 

 year. When migrating to some distimce they pass at a great height, flying in pairs, uttering their discordant 

 and harsh cries. They congregate foi' many miles around to some chosen spot to roost, which they continue 

 to visit for many mouths, roosting upon the toj)m(ist branches of the tallest trees. 



"They breed in the holes of trees, usually in the Iliguera, or Wild Fig, which is the largest tree of these 

 forests, depositing their eggs upon the bare wood ; the eggs are wdiite, two in number, and a little less than 

 those of the common hen ; their breeding season commences in April, and both male and female perform the 

 duties of incubation." 



167. Conurus holochlorus var. hrevijies Baird. 



" " Proc. Bost. Soc. of N. H., xiv., p. 298. 



Socorro Island, Grayson. 



"Upon stepping on the shore of this island for the first time, I felt as one always feels when entering upon 

 a strange laml, where man has but seldoni made his footprints, and where all was silent, but the melodies of 

 the little songsters that gazed with wonder into my eyes. This feeling of inteiest or cariosity was the more 

 augmented as I entered a grove of green trees that sheltered numbers of the handsome green parrots that 

 climVted among their branches, or sat near the ground on some low twigs, caressing each other, looking at me 

 with silent astonishment, without appearing to have the least sense of fear at my pi-esence. I was the first 

 human being in all probability they had ever beheld; how little they suspected that man, the destroyer, now 

 stood before them, with the death dealing instrument on his shoulder. \Vith a tender solicitude for their un- 

 sophisticated tameness, I felt a conscientious delicacy in shooting one, even for a specimen ; but when I 

 remembered that I came for the purpose of making ornithological collections, anil tliat a few of them were 



