CONURES. 



163 



foreet part of Maquegua, and sub?equ6ntly about Val- 

 divia." "The natives eat these Parrots when they can 

 get them. 



■' Their habit-s are simil:ir to those of H. leptor- 

 hynchug, and they utter the same discordant cries, and 

 appear to be confined to the forests, feeding on similar 

 trees." 



Captain Richard Crawehay says (" Birds of Tierra 

 del Fuego," p. 37) : " The exii-tence of such a bird as 

 this Parrot in these high latitudes as reported by the 

 early voyagers was for a long time discredited. 



" It is common in fiocks in the more open portions ' 

 of the foreet to the south of Useless Bay. Unfortu- 

 nately, I did not at once secure specimens when I could 

 very well have done so; ultimately, on visiting the 

 places where I had seen them, I could not again come 

 ;u.TOSS any. 



"It is plentiful in the forest behind Punta Arenas on 

 the Patagonian mainland, but I never succeeded in find- 

 ing more than their feathers. 



" On the survey of the ' Adventure ' in 1827, Capt. 

 King met with it in all parts of the Strait, and he says 

 it feeds principally upon the s?eds of the Wintor's-bark. 



"At .Sara Settlement, Mr. Rigby had a pair of these 

 birds tame, w hich had been taken from a nest at the 

 head of the Rio Chico." 



The London Zoological Society first acquired this 

 rarely imported Conure in 1866, and has added one or 

 two other specimens since that date. Russ adds no 

 information in his " Handbook." 



Red-e.\red Conure (Pijrrhxira crucntala). 

 Green ; a broad dark red jjatch on lower back and 

 riunp; bend of wing crimson ; baistard-wing and primary 

 coverts tinged with blue, especially on inner webs ; 

 outermo.*t primaries blue, edged with green on outer 

 webs, olive on inner webs ; tail olive, the lateral 

 feathers washe<l with brownish-red on inner webs ; 

 crown and 7iape brownish^black, the feathers, especially 

 on the na|x?, edged with buff-yellowish : edge of fore- 

 head, lores, orbital ring, and ear-coverts brownish-red : 

 a yellowish-orange patch on sides of neck ; cheeks and 

 chin green ; throat and a narrow collar round back of neck 

 blue ; a bright I'ed patch on centre of abdomen ; flights 

 lielow grey, the base of their inner webs and the greater 

 under coverts olive : tail below brownish copper-red 

 tip|)ed with olive: beak horn-brown: feet dusky: 

 irides yellowi^h-oraaige. Female smaller, the beak 

 broader' rather shorter, less arched, narrower at base 

 when seen in profile. Hab,, " South-eastern Brazil, 

 from Bahia to Rio Janeiro." (Salvador!.) I have dis- 

 covered no notes on the Avild life of this species. It 

 is very rarely imported, but two specimens were pur- 

 chased" for the London Zoological Gardens in 1869, and 

 others have been added more recently. 



Red-bellied Contjre [Pi/rrhura rittatn). 

 Green ; feathers of lower back edged with brown- 

 red, forming a patch of that colour: primary -coverts 

 slightly washed with bluish ; outermost primaries blue, 

 excepting a green edging to the outer webs and a green 

 tinge towards tip ; tail more or less coppery-red towards 

 the tip and on the inner webs of the feathers, but the 

 tip itself green like the whole of the rest of the tail ; 

 a narrow chestnut band, sometimes ticked with red, 

 on the forehead ; a greenish-brown spot on the ear- 

 coverts ; throat and breast olive, the edges of the 

 feathers barred with yellowish and dusky : feathers of 

 the sides with ill-defined, duskj* edges ; a brownish-red 

 patch at middle of abdonie.-i ; greater under wing-coverts 

 ;ind flights below blackish-grey, washed with olive on 



inner webs; tail below brownish-red, slightly greenish 

 at tip ; beak bljick-brown or dusky ; feet grey 

 ("brownish-black" — Rues); irides orange-reddish to 

 dark brown. Female slightly smaller, the beaJc nar- 

 rower, shorter, and with coarser terminal hook. Hab., 

 South-Eastem Brazil, Paraguay, and Ai'gentina. 



-Mr. J. F. Hamilton (The Ibis. 1871, p. 308) says: 

 '■ I met them frequently in the neighbourliood of maize 

 plantations, on which they commit gi'eat havoc. Along 

 the Sao Paulo railixyad flocks were freijuently seen flying 

 overiie-ad." 



Mr. J, Graham Kerr, writing on the Avifauna of the 

 Lower Pilcomayo {The Ibis, 1892, p. 140) says : "Fairly 

 abundant during autumn." 



Two s.pecimens of this I'arely-imported Conure were 

 purchased for the London Zcological Gai-dens in May, 

 1869, and others have since been added, no less thain 

 five having been purcliased in June, 1883. Russ speaks 

 of it as nervous and intractable ; he records the price 

 of it in Germany as from' 15 to 20 marlcs for a pair, 

 so that it would seem not to be so rare in tlie G«rman 

 as in the Englisli market ; some were, however, sold in 

 London in 1898, three of which came into Mr. Seth- 

 Smith's possession. 



White-eared Conure (I'yrrJuira leucotif). 



The prevailing colour ie green, the top of the head 

 and nape brownish-black ; tlie foTehead and cheeks flesh- 

 red ; ear -coverts white ; feathei's of tli© breast trans- 

 vereely sitriped white and black ; bend of wing, a large 

 patch on the lower back, the tip of the tail, and middle 

 of abdomen deep red ; bastard-wing and primary-coverts 

 greenish-blue ; prinxaries with blue outer webs, greater 

 under wing-ooverts and quills 'below olivaceous-blackish ; 

 tail below ooppeiy-reddisili ; beak horn-brown to blaok, 

 the cere greyisih-whiCe ; feet blackish-grey with black 

 claws ; naked skin round eye dull- white ; iris varying 

 from orange-yellow to red-brown. Female d'istinctly 

 sjnall'Sr, the beak hroader, shorter, ajnd more arched. 

 Hab., Eastern Brazil. 



According to Bumieister this species inhabits the 

 wooded coast region, and isi by no means rare; he 

 regarded it as iniOontestaWy tlie neatest and most elegant 

 of all Parrakeete. 



Dr. RusB sayis that this species has been importe'd 

 .■^ince 1871, rarely at first, more numerously in 1884, 

 since which time it has been moi'e abundant. It was 

 bred in the bird-roo-m of Prince Ferdinand of vSaxe- 

 CV>bu.rg-Gotha, at Vienna, in 1880. .-ind by a Mr. Johns, 

 a schoolmaster in London, in 1885. two young being 

 produced which died before they were fully fledged, 

 Mr. Seth-Sm'ith (" Pan-akeets," p. 61) quotes another 

 instance of partial success in breeding the species from 

 "Notes on Case-Birds." 



The Hon. and Rev. F. G. Button once owned a pair 

 of tihis species, which he turned into an ariary ; he sa|\TS 

 he found them wild and uninteresting, and they showed 

 no desire to breed, therefore he parted with them. 



The first two specimens to reach the Regent's Park 

 Gardens were purcliased in 1871, since whioh time others 

 have been added from time to time. 



BLUE--mNGED Conuhe {Pj/rrkura picta). 

 Green ; lower back dark red : bend of wing red ; bas- 

 tard-wing, primary-coverts, and outer webs of primaries 

 blue ; tail above brownish-red, gi-een at base of outer 

 webs of feathers ; forehead, lower part of cheeks, and 

 an ill-d'efined hand at back of nape blue; upper part 

 of cheeks chestnut ; ear-coverts sordid grey ; throat and 

 sides of neck brown, the feathers with grey-brownish 



