LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN CUCKOOS, 

 GOATSUCKERS, HUMMINGBIRDS, AND THEIR 

 ALLIES. 



ORDERS PSiTTACIFORMES, CT:'CULTFORiIES, TROGONIFORMES, COR- 

 ACIIFORMES, CAPRIMULGIFORMES, AND MICROPODIIFORMES 



By Arthur Clea^eland Bent 

 Taunton, Mass. 



Order PSITTACIFORMES 

 Family PSITTACIDAE: Parrots and Parakeets 



CONUROPSIS CAROLINENSIS CAROLINENSIS (Linnaeus) 

 CAROLINA PARAKEET 



HABITS 



Many of the glories of North American bird life have gone, never 

 to return. The spread of civilization, the selfish greed of human 

 interests, and the lust to kill have wiped out some of the most spec- 

 tacular and beautiful features in our formerly abundant bird life. 

 The countless millions of passenger pigeons that formerly darkened 

 the sky in their seasonal migrations are gone forever. And the great 

 flocks of gorgeous parakeets that formerly roamed over nearly all the 

 eastern part of our country will be seen no more. This was the 

 only representative of the parrot family that lived and bred within 

 the United States; it gave a touch of tropical character to our 

 avifauna and a vivid tinge of color to the landscape ; its loss is much 

 to be regretted. Never again may be seen the glorious sights wit- 

 nessed by Wilson, Audubon, and other early writers, as great flocks 

 of these gorgeous birds wheeled through the air, in close formation, 

 their long tails streaming out in straight flight or spreading as they 

 turned, and their brilliant colors, red, yellow, bright green, and soft 

 blue, gleaming in the sunlight. As Wilson (1832) says: "They came 

 screaming through the woods in the morning, about an hour after 

 sunrise, to drink the salt water, of which tliey, as well as the pigeons, 

 are remarkably fond. Wlien they alighted on the ground, it ap- 

 peared at a distance as if covered with a carpet of richest green, 



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