27 



but also that my opinions as to the non-necessity of 

 coddling are correct. 



(7<7 be C07iti7i7ied). 



Ibe lparrot6 of tbe (Bambia. 



By b:. Hopkinson, M.B., D.S.O. 



' 9 ^ ^ HE three parrots of this country belong to 

 C(7\ the genera Palaornis and Pceocephalus : one to 

 V^ the former, two to the latter. They are (i) 

 Palicoriiis docilis, the Ring-necked Parrakeet. 

 called by the natives " Kelli-kelli," (2) Pceocephalus 

 seiiegalus, the Senegal Parrot, of which the Mandingo 

 name is "Jobo," (3)/*- robicstzis, the " Bumbarra Jobo" 

 of the Mandingoes. Nos. i and 2 are very common 

 all over the Protectorate, and any number are daily 

 to be seen either flying over, feeding in the trees, or 

 collected on the ground round the heaps of ground- 

 nut grass, eating the scattered nuts, of which they are 

 inordinately fond, and with which the crop of any 

 parrot shot at this time of the year (before the nuts 

 have been gathered in), is sure to be found filled. In 

 parenthesis I may remark that, besides the birds, 

 every one, both black and white, and nearly every 

 animal, from dogs and horses downwards, is in this 

 country a groundnut eater on a large scale, especially 

 when they are fresh, at which time they are really 

 good, a very different thing from the dried up things 

 one buys as "monkey-nuts" to feed the monkeys 

 with at the Zoo. 



Our Ringneck is merely a smaller edition of the 

 Ringneck Parrakeet imported in such large numbers 

 from the East, and is just as inveterate a screamer as 

 the majority of those birds, and, in my opinion, 

 has not a point to recommend it as a pet. Any I 

 have had have been noisy and savage : absolutely 

 iintameable if taken when adult, while even my 



