157 



Yellow-headed Conure (C'onurug jendaya). 



This is a very showy Pairol, its head being Liriglit 

 yellow, suttused witii oraiige-red on the torehea<J,,roiu;a 

 the naked eye-iing, on tne Ihioat, breast, belly, and 

 the margins oi tne leathers oi the low'er bacU. and 

 ruuii) ; me hastard-wing, pnmary-coverts, outer webs 

 ol pripianes, excepting towards the base, outer tail- 

 feather and tips ot all the others above, blue ; inner 

 webs and under surlace of quills, greater under \Miig- 

 uoverLs, and under sua taoe of tail, blackish ; rennaiiulor 

 of plumage green ; beak black ; feet blackish, with 

 black claws ; iris varying Irom pearl-grey to brown. 

 Female jirobably with shorter and narrower beak than 

 the nialf. Ilab., Eastern Brazil. 



This liir I is said to visit the maize crops in small 

 llouks (;iinsi>;nig of irom eight to twenty individuals, 

 and to Jo imich miscliief ; its ci-y is luud and startling, 

 and it ie verj' destructive to wood ; nevertheless it has 

 a very good character as a cage and aviai-y bird, being 

 peaceable, affectionate, and harmless when associated 

 with .<imaller birds. 



Dr. Russ says : " A pair belonging to me took posses- 

 sion of a nest-box ; the male and teniale were vei-y tender 

 to each other, carried out the whole business naturally, 

 even eat t<igetJier on the laying of four eggs. If anyone 

 approached the cage they .sought to scare the invader 

 with bristling feathers and puffed out neck ruffles, with 

 stooping and otlier wonderful gestures. Looking sub- 

 sequenUy I found seven hatched dried-up young. They 

 have laid eggs with several other breeders, but hitherto 

 have not been succes'sfully reared." 



However, Mr. Seth-Smith (" Parrakeefs," p. 34) quotes 

 an account of the successful breeding of the species 

 recorded in " Notes on Cage Birds," Second Series, 

 p 173, by a writer who signs himself " Blue Robin." 

 Oddly enough, as in the case of the Yellow C'onures 

 described above, the young appear to have remained 

 in the nest (from the commencement of the incubation 

 <if the cgL;s) about three months. It seems a long 

 time, but with two independent witnesses there can be 

 nr, iiuesMiin of its correctness. Four specimens of this 

 prtvtty L'onure reacht^d the London Gardens in 1859. and 

 altogether a fair number have been since acquired. 



GoLDEN-HE.\DED CoNURE [Coniirus aurirapUliis). 



Differs from the preceding, but with the front of the 

 frown yellow ; the back of crown and hind neck green ; 

 the sides of head green, more or less washed with 

 yellow ; a reddisJi tinge round the naked orbital region 

 and on the ear-coverts; throat and front of breast 

 green, back of breast and abdomen red, with the base 

 of the feathers more or less green. Female with shorter 

 and narrower beak, less deep when viewed in profile. 

 Hab., Eastern Brazil. 



I have found no notes respecting the wild bfe of 

 this si>ecies. It is very rarely imported, and is not 

 mentioned in Rnss' " Handbook " ; it has, however, been 

 exhibited at cur London Zoological Gardens more than 

 once. 



Bl.\ck-he.\ded Conure {Coniini.i tundni/). 



Dr. Ru.5s thus describes it: "An extraordinarily 

 coloured Parrot : grass-green, on the underside vellowisli- 

 (treen ; forehead, crown and front of cheeks deep 

 brownish-black ; back of head, dark chestnut-brown ; 

 ear-coverts, lower back and rump vellowish-green ; 

 flights and tail-feathers marked with blue: throat and 

 upper breast greyish blue-green; thighs scarlet-red; 

 beak blacki.sh horn-grey ; eyes red fc black-brown : feet 

 brownish horn-grey; claws blackish." Female with a 



narrower beak, not so deep when seen in profile. Hab., 

 Paraguay and Argentina. 



Mr. J. Graham Kerr (The Ibis, 1892, p. 140) says: 

 '■ Abundant, in very large flocks, about the neighbour- 

 hood of Fortin Page. I'requently associates witn flocks 

 of lidlhurhi/nchus iimnachu.i. One of the favourite foods, 

 of these species consists of the berries of the parasitic 

 Laraiil/idccce, which ai-e so common on some of the 

 trees." 



In a subsequent paper, on the Birds observed in the 

 ■ Gran Cliaco, the same author [The Ibis, 1901, p. 229) 

 says: "Very common in large flocks." It is therefore 

 not surprising that, although regarded as a great rarity 

 when first purchased by the London Zoological Society 

 in May, 1870, it is now a very freely imported species. 

 Huss says of it : " Since 1870 occasionally iinported 

 singly; dn 1878, for tJie fir.st time, in several pairs by 

 Charles Jamrach, of London ; after that it made its 

 appearance from time to time in bird-rooms. Behaviour 

 comical ; cry i>enetrating, loud, hardly so shrdl as that 

 of the Carolina Parrot; sexes very affectionate. Bred 

 in 1881 by Baron von Cornely. L'nhappily no further 

 details communicated. Price 20 to 30 marks for the 

 pair." 



Mr. Seth-Smdth (" Pan-akeets," pp. 36 and 37) quotes 

 two accounts of the 'breeding of this species in England, 

 one from " Notes on Cage tsirds," the other from The. 

 Aviriiltiiral Maijazinc" Y'et he tells us that " It is not 

 a popular species with aviculturi.sts." In the trade 

 this C-onure is generally known as the Nenday ot 

 Nanday Parrakeet. 



Red-headed Conure {Cvnurus ruhrularvaliis}. 



Bright gi'een, slightly paler on underparts ; the -whole' 

 front of the head to well behind the eyes and including; 

 the chin, also the bend and front edge of the wing, 

 le-sser and median under wing-coverts and thighs, scar- 

 let ; greater under wing-coverts, flights and tail below 

 olive, the former dusky at tips and on outer webs ; 

 beak yellowish-white ; naked orbital ring pale yellow ; 

 irides yellow. Female probably with a narrower beak, 

 than the male. Hab., Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. 



.Stolzmann says (Taczanowski's " Ornithologie du 

 Perou," Vol. in., p. 198) : " Very common on the coast,, 

 whence it disappears in March and April." 



In The Avieultural Mai/aziiic, First Series, Vol. VI.. 

 p. 69, Mr. Walter Good'fellow says : " These birds I 

 i;aw offered for sale in Guayaquil at 5d. each, and no. 

 doubt at half that price they could have been bought. 

 Being rather large tiixis, they show off their colour to 

 advantage. I imagine, though, they must be rather 

 noisy birds to keep, for they have a disagreeable shriek. 

 They ought not to be at all delicate, for w'e shot speci- 

 mens near the Volcano of Parace, by Popayan, in 

 Colombia, at an altitude of over 8.000' ft. In" passing; 

 through the little village of CanneJi (still in Colombia*), 

 on our ride from Buenaventura to Call, wi> saw the aune 

 birds in immense clouds, coming from their feeding 

 grounds in the high mountain forests, to pass the night 

 in the little sheltered valley below. Carmen coidd boast 

 of little else in the way of vegetation but bamboos,, 

 which grew in gi-eat thickets, and every branch of 

 these giant gi-asses was literally weighing down with 

 its burden of C ruhrolaririhis. The noise was simply 

 deafening ! Those we shot by the acid waterfall of 

 Parace. in the month of May, 1898. were undoubtedly 

 nesting in the crevices of the perpendicular cliffs there ; 

 for on the report of our firearms numbers of them flew 

 screaming from the holes and ledge^; around. I noticed, 



' Frnbably by a printer's Mror it is spelt Columbia in the- 



