192 BIRDS OF THE PLAINS 



Very amusing it is to watch a little company of 

 parrots in a tree. Sometimes the birds perch on the 

 topmost branches and there chuckle to one another; at 

 others they cling to the trunk, looking very comic, 

 pressed up against the bark with tails outspread. 

 Not infrequently one sees two of them sitting together 

 in a tree indulging in a little mild flirtation, which, in 

 green parrot communities, takes the form of head tick- 

 ling. These birds are very skilled climbers ; they move 

 along the branches foot over foot, using the beak when 

 they have to negotiate a difficult pass. Thus they 

 clamber about, robbing the tree of its fruit and keeping 

 up a running conversation. Suddenly the flock will take 

 to its wings and fly off, screeching boisterously. The 

 members of each little community seem to live in a 

 state of rowdy good-fellowship. No one who watches 

 parrots in a state of nature can doubt that existence 

 affords them plenty of pleasure. 



Green parrots nest in January or February in Southern 

 India, and somewhat later in the North. The courtship 

 of the rose-ringed species is thus described by Captain 

 Hutton : " At the pairing season the female becomes 

 the most affected creature possible, twisting herself into 

 all sorts of ridiculous postures, apparently to attract the 

 notice of her sweetheart, and uttering a low twittering 

 note the while, in the most approved style of flirtation, 

 while her wings are half spread and her head kept 

 rolling from side to side in demi-gyrations ; the male 

 sitting quietly by her side, looking on with wonder as if 

 fairly taken aback — and wondering to see her make 

 such a guy of herself. I have watched them during 



