160 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



their colouring was a little diJler, the beak horn-grey, 

 and the birds themselves slightly smaller. During the 

 breeding the male was so spiteful to the other Parrots 

 that they had to be removed. This is a hardy, long- 

 lived species. 



A strikingly coloured and freeily imported bird, its 

 price, according to Russ, being ten to twelve or even 

 eight marks for a pair. The first examples owned by 

 the London Zoologica'. Society were presented in 1S62 ; 

 altogether nine specimens are enumerated in the fifth 

 edition of the "List of Animals," and since that time 

 many others have been added. 



Petz's CoNtiRE (Conuriis canicularM. 



Green ; primaries blue towards the tips and with 

 black tips; the inner webs blackish; secondaries blue, 

 the outer webs narrowly edged with green ; tertiaries 

 green ; two central tail-feathers slightly bluish towards 

 the tip ; forehead orange-red ; crown and lores blue ; 

 cheeks olive-green ; throat and breast olive ; abdomen, 

 under wing- and tail-coverts greenish-yellow ; greater 

 under wing-coverts blackish-grey, with yellow edges ; 

 flights below blackish-grey ; tail below olivaceous 

 yellow ; the outer webs of the feathers slightly dusky ; 

 upper mandible flesh-white ; under mandible white in 

 front, dusky on sides ; feet grey (or blackish-brown) ; 

 naked orbital skin white (yellow or brownish, accord- 

 ing to Russ) ; irides yellow to yeUowish-brown. FemaU 

 with the beak more finely formed and less curved. 

 Hab.. Mexico and Central America to Costa Rica. 



Mr. C. \V. Beebe ("Two Bird Lovers in Mexico," 

 pp. 178 and 181) fays : " These little fellows have an 

 individuality which ic- irresistible. They are the mo?t 

 sociable little creatures, calling loudly to each othe;' 

 when on the wing, and keeping up a continuous low 

 chuckling and chattering when perched. One would 

 climb, foot over foot, to a large fruit, take several bites, 

 and return to his mate, close to whom he would snuggle 

 and offer his head for an affectionate nibble. Tlie 

 favourite fruit of thspe birds was very sticky and juicy, 

 and the little creatures were almost always in a dis- 

 gracefully soiled condition — their bills and heads en- 

 crusted with the gummv liquid. These little parra- 

 keets were not ehy, but very watchitul, and, when 

 frightened, they always flew to a curious tree which, 

 though bare of leaves, was sp;irselv covered with an 

 odd-jooking, long, and four-sided fruit of a green colour. 

 Under such circumstances, they alighted all together, 

 and, unlike their usual cuetom of perching in pairs, 

 they scattered all over the tree, stood very upright, and 

 remained motionless. From a di.=tance of fifty feet it 

 was impossible to distinguish Parrakect from fruit, so 

 close was the resemblance. A Hawk dashed down once 

 and carried away a bird, but the others remained as 

 still as it they were inanimate fruit. This ."ilent trust 

 in the prote^ctive resemblance of the green fruit was 

 most remarkable, when we remembered the ifranti' 

 shrieks which the^e birds alwavs set up at the approach 

 of danger, when they happened to be caught away from 

 one of these Parrnt-friiit trees. These latter have no 

 common naane : botanists knO'W it as PUriix ronirn." 



Mr. Beebe states (o. 387) that this species is numerous 

 in the barrancas and in the lowlands. 



Petz's Conure is a rarely imported though desirable 

 little Parrot. The first two to reach the London Zoologi- 

 cal Gardens were purch.ised in .June. 1869, since which 

 time a few others have been added from time to time. 



Caroline Conure {Conuropsls caroliensis). 

 Green, paler on under-surface ; ecapulars. greater 

 wing-coverts, and inner secondaries olivaceous ; bend of 

 wing and front edge yellow ; primary-coverts dark 



green ; primaries yellowish at base of outer webs ; head 

 and upper part of neck yellow ; forehead, lores, orbital 

 I'egion, and cheeks orange; gi'eiiter under wing-coverts 

 and under-surface of flights greyish-black ; thighs with 

 a few orange feathers ; toil below olive, the outer webs 

 of the feathers more or less dusky ; beak whitish horn- 

 colour ; feet yellowish flesh-colour ; irides brownish- 

 grey. Female ■with the orange on the head more re- 

 stricted, the beak narrower and slightly ehorter. Hab., 

 formerly widelv distributed, but now restricted to the 

 Gulf States and the Lower Mississippi Valley, and only 

 oecun-ing locally. 



Major Charles Bendire (" Life Histories of North 

 American Birds, Vol. II., pp. 1-6) gives a very full 

 account of this Parrakeet, from which I cull the fol- 

 lowing : " With the more general settlement of the 

 regions inhabited bv tbese birds, their numbers have 

 gradually but steadily dimviii.shed, and even as early 

 a.s 1832 Audubon speaks of their not being nearly as 

 common as formeady. As late, however, as 1860 they 

 were still comparatively numerous throughout the Gulf 

 States and the Mississippi, -Arkansas, and '\\Tiite River 

 valleys ; and I well remember seeing large flocks of 

 the.se birds throughout that year in the vicinity of Fort 

 Sim.ith, Arkansas, and near several of tlw military posts 

 in the Indian Territory. 



" Although rather restless birds at all times, they can 

 generally be considered as residents wherever found, 

 roving about from place to place in search of suitable 

 feeding grounds, and usually returning to the same 

 roosting-place. some large hollow tree, to which they 

 retire at night, hooking or sufpending themselves by 

 their powerful beaks and claws to the inner rough wall 

 of the cavity. 



" Previous to t'he moi'e exten.^ive settlement of the 

 country, theii- food consisted of the seeds of the cockle- 

 bur {Xanthhim strtimarium), the round seed balls of the 

 sycamore, those of the c\-press, pecan and beech nuts, 

 the fruit of the papaw {Asiiniiia Irilohata), mulberries, 

 wild grapes, and various other wild berries. According 

 to Mr. J. F. ileiige, they also feed on the seeds ex- 

 tracted from pine cones and those of the burgrass. or 

 sand bur {Cenrhru.? trihuloidef:), one of the most, noxious 

 weeds known. They are also rather fond of cultivated 

 fruit, and in Florida they have acquired a taste for 

 both oranges and bananas. They are also partial to 

 different kinds of gi-ains while in the milk. Mr. Frank 

 M. Cliapm'an states that while collecting on the Sebas- 

 tian River, Florida, in March, 1890, he foimd them 

 feeding on the milky seeds of a species of thistle 

 (fin^ivm leriintri). which, as far as he could learn, con- 

 stituted their entire food at that season." 



.\mong other things, the red blossoms of the maple 

 iArrr rtihriim). cisage. orange-fruit, and buds and corn 

 in the milky stage are also mentioned. He continues : — 



"Their flight, which is more or less undulating, re- 

 sembles both that of the Passenger Pigeon and again 

 that of the Falcons; it is extremely swift and graceful, 

 enabling them, ■ave-.i when fl.ying in rather compact 

 flocks, to dart in and out of the densest timber with 

 perfect ease. Their call-notes are shrill and disagree- 

 able, a kind of grating, metallic shriek, and they ar»>, 

 e.-ipecially noisy while on the wing. Among the calls 

 is one resembling the shrill oi'y of a goose, which is 

 frequently uttered for minutes at a time. Formerly 

 they moved about in good-sized and compact flocks, 

 often numbering himdreds. while now it is a rare occur- 

 rence to see more than twenty together, more often 

 small companies of from six to twelve. When at rest 

 in the middle of the day on some favourite tree they 



