212 THE SPEAKING PABBOTS. 



pursued. The Indians take numbers of tlie young birds from 

 the nests, in order to rear them for sale in the seaports. The 

 old birds are caught in snares, or with bird-lime, and of late in 

 flocks with large nets. 



Nearly all the Conures are easily tamed and prove exceedingly 

 hardy in captivity. They are, therefore, seen more frequently, 

 both as regards species and numbers, than most other parrots. 

 Some may be reckoned among the commonest birds in the 

 market, but many kinds, on the other hand, are rare and 

 valuable. At first they seem, especially if old birds, to be 

 shy, stupid, untameable, and far from agreeable, and their 

 piercing cry, which it is impossible to silence, renders them 

 altogether insupportable. But in a short time all, even the 

 wildest old birds, become uncommonly tame and affectionate, 

 and prove capable of high training and of being taught to 

 speak ; they cannot, however, in any case, be esteemed clever as 

 speakers, and they never discontinue their harsh cry, even when 

 they are fully tamed. They are chiefly valued as ornamental 

 birds, as they have all more or less brilliant plumage, and 

 attract amateurs by the charm of their comical ways, with their 

 nodding, bowing, erecting their feathers, and the dilatation or 

 contraction of the pupil of the eye, &c., although one must 

 patiently put up with the shrill continuous cry. Only a few 

 species have as yet been successfully bred. The Conures, in 

 point of food, need only seeds — hemp, canary seed, oats — with 

 a little fruit, and biscuit or egg-bread. They should also have 

 a constant supply of fresh branches for gnawing. On account 

 of their small size they are seldom kept on stands, but more 

 usually in cages, which, by reason of their inveterate habit of 

 gnawing, must, with the exception of the perch, be wholly of 

 metal. In aviaries they are, as a rule, very ill tempered and 

 vicious towards other little birds. 



Of course I shall speak here of those Conures only which have 

 been proved to possess capacity for speech. 



— »>in8?ib«>s-«— 



