THICK-BILLED PARROT 15 



find, which probably tells the whole story. K. D. Lusk (1900) re- 

 ported that a flock of nine or ten of these parrots came into the 

 Chiricahua Mountains, just north of the Mexican border, about the 

 middle of June 1900. He collected two specimens, and some pole- 

 cutters killed several others. "They appeared to come up the large 

 canon, at the head of which I was encamped, to about midway of the 

 mountain's height, where the oaks begin to give way to pine, and 

 there they tarried." 



Austin Paul Smith (1907) reported "an immense flock of this spe- 

 cies, * * * observed by miners at Bonita Park, near Cochise head 

 in the Chiricahua Mountains, during the month of August, 1904. 

 * * * This flock was estimated at from 700 to 1,000, by those who 

 observed the birds. Among these were a number of young birds, 

 easily distinguished by plumage and small size." 



The next occurrence of these parrots, and probably the last definite 

 record, was in the winter of 1917-18, of which Percy Hands wrote to 

 Professor Vorhies as follows: "The Mexican Thick-billed Parrots 

 were first noticed on my ranch in lower Pinery Canyon in mid-Sep- 

 tember. About 250 — counted over 200 — in one flock. They have 

 been on my ranch at irregular intervals since then up to March 27. 

 They roosted here seven times during late October and early Novem- 

 ber. The longest period they were away was about three weeks 

 before they appeared March 27. There were about 70, rough count, 

 at that appearance." 



The thick-billed parrot may have occurred elsewhere in Arizona, 

 but Professor Vorhies was unable to find any definite records for 

 any locality outside of the Chiricahuas. The New Mexico records 

 are both hearsay, sight records. Mrs. Bailey (1928) reports: "In 

 1919, Dr. Alexander Wetmore was told by R. Winkler that in recent 

 years his son had at times seen parrots on Animas Mountain, above 

 Deer Creek. * * * j^ confirmatory record was given Aldo Leo- 

 pold by Forest Ranger Don S. Sullivan, who said that in 1917 some 

 large Parrots were seen near the Elvey Ranch. * * * on the 

 Animas Division of the Coronado Forest near the Mexican boundary." 



The main range of the thick-billed parrot is in the mountains 

 bordering the Mexican tableland. Dr. W. H. Bergtold (1906) writes: 



This bird is increasingly common from Chuictiupa southward, and was espe- 

 cially an everyday sight during the trip, in 1904, to the mountains west of 

 Parral. * * * in the higher mountains west of Parral, a region varying 

 in altitude from 4,000 to 10,000 feet, the Thick-billed Parrot is far more 

 common than northward in the country west of Cases Graudes; in fact it is 

 the characteristic bird of these high places, as much so as is the Magpie part 

 of the local color of our Western Plains. * * * j^ whatever section we saw 

 them, these parrots were most abundant in the pines. They frequented the 

 tops of dead pines, and were, a good part of the time, going in and out of 

 abandoned woodpecker nests, nests which we took to be those of the Imperial 



