PARROT-LIKE BIRDS 



123 



The Carolina Paroquet is to-day nearly, if not 

 quite, extinct, no record of its appearance havinjj 

 been made for several years. Once common in 

 the Southern States from Maryland and Colo- 

 rado, they have passed away before the guns of 

 the white man. Observers tell us that they trav- 

 eled about the country in flocks and their inroads 

 on fruit orchards won for tiiem a dislike that in 

 the end meant their inevitable destruction. \\ luii 

 a flock was shot into, the survivors after flying 

 a short distance would return again and again 

 to their fallen comprmions until sometimes an 

 entire company would be wiped out. 



Many of the early writers and explorers give 

 accounts of their a])])earance and habits. Thus 

 John I.awson, Gentleman, in his History of Caro- 

 lina, published in London in 1714, writes: "The 

 Parrokeetes are of a green colour, and orange- 

 coloured half way up their heads. Of these and 

 the Allegators there is none found to the north- 

 ward of this Province. They visit us first when 

 mulberries are ripe, which fruit they love ex- 

 ceedingly. They peck the apples to eat the 

 kernels, so that the fruit rots and perishes. They 

 are Mischievous to Orchards. They are often 

 taken alive and will become familiar and tame 

 in two days. They have their nests in hollow 

 trees in low swamp ground. They devour the 

 Birch Buds in April, and lie hidden when the 

 weather is frosty and hard." 



Many years have now passed since the Caro- 

 lina Paroquet was seen in the Carolinas. Florida 

 is, or was, its last stand. Dr. Frank ^L Chap- 

 man found fifty or more individuals in the south- 

 ern part of that State in i88g. Writing of his 

 exi)eriences he says : " Late in the afternoon 

 of our arrival we started a flock of seven Paro- 

 quets from a productive patch of thistles which 

 ])roved to be their favorite food. Evidently their 

 meal was finished and they were ready to retire, 

 for they darted like startled Doves through the 

 pines, twisting and turning in everv direction, 

 and flying with such rapidity, they were soon lost 

 to view ; the ring of their sharp, rolling call alone 

 furnished proof it was not all a vision." 



Two days later he again came upon a flock of 

 which he writes: "Several were skillfully dis- 

 secting the thistles they held in their feet, biting 

 out the milky seed while the released flufTy down 

 floated away beneath them. There was a sound 

 of suppressed conversation; half-articulate calls. 



W'c were only partially concealed behind a 

 neighboring tree, still they showed no great 

 alarm at our presence ; curiosity was apparently 

 the diiminant feeling." 



Photo by R. W. Shufcldt 



CAROLINA PAROQUET 



This is a picture of a live bird, although the species is ahnost 

 extinct 



Following Dr. Chapman's discovery other ob- 

 servers occasionally reported finding them, but 

 these reports became less frequent as time passed 

 and of late years have altogether ceased. 



T. Gilbert Pearson. 



