110 CAROLINA PARROT. 



Their local attacliments also prove that food more than climate deter 

 mines their choice of country. For even in the states of Ohio, Ken- 

 tucky, and the Mississippi territory, unless in the neighborhood of such 

 places as have been described, it is rare to see them. The inhabitants 

 of Lexington, as many of them assured me, scarcely ever observe them 

 in that quarter. In passing from that place to Nashville, a distance of 

 two hundred miles, I neither heard nor saw any, but at a place called 

 Madison's Lick. In passing on, I next met with them on the banks and 

 rich flats of the Tennessee river ; after this I saw no more till I reached 

 Bayo St. Pierre, a distance of several hundred miles ; from all which 

 circumstances, I think we cannot, from the residences of these birds, 

 establish with propriety, any correct standard by which to judge of the 

 comparative temperatures of different climates. 



In descending the river Ohio, by myself, in the month of February, I 

 met with the first flock of Paroquets at the mouth of the Little Scioto. 

 I had been informed, by an old and respectable inhabitant of Marietta, 

 that they were sometimes, though rarely, seen there. I observed flocks 

 of them, afterwards, at the mouth of the Great and Little Miami, and 

 in the neighborhood of numerous creeks, that discharge themselves into 

 the Ohio. At Big-Bone Lick, thirty miles above the mouth of Ken- 

 tucky river, I saw them in great numbers. They came screaming 

 through the woods in the morning, about an hour after sunrise, to drink 

 the salt water, of which they, as well as the pigeons, are remarkably 

 fond. When they alighted on the ground, it appeared, at a distance, as 

 if covered with a carpet of the richest green, orange and yellow. They 

 afterwards settled, in one body, on a neighboring tree, which stood de- 

 tached from any other, covering almost every twig of it, and the sun 

 shining strongly on their gay and glossy plumage, produced a very beau- 

 tiful and splendid appearance. Here I had an opportunity of observing 

 some very particular traits of their character. Having shot down a 

 number, some of which were only Avounded, the whole flock swept re- 

 peatedly around their prostrate companions, and again settled on a low 

 tree, within twenty yards of the spot where I stood. At each successive 

 discharge, though showers of them fell, yet the aff"ection of the survi- 

 vors seemed rather to increase ; for after a few circuits around the place, 

 they again alighted near me, looking down on their slaughtered compa- 

 nions, with such manifest symptoms of sympathy and concern, as entirely 

 disarmed me. I could not but take notice of the remarkable contrast 

 between their elegant manner of flight, and their lame and crawling gait 

 among the branches. They fly very much like the Wild Pigeon, in close, 

 compact bodies, and with great rapidity, making a loud and outrageous 

 screaming, not unlike that of the Red-headed Woodpecker. Their flight 

 is sometimes in a direct line ; but most usually circuitous, making a great 

 variety of elegant and easy serpentine meanders, as if for pleasure. 



