172 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



green; speculum formed by the bases of the outer 

 webs of the first three or four secondaries, red ; 

 primaries black, but all excepting the first, and the 

 primary-coverts, deep blue towards base of outer webs ; 

 outermost secondaries blue towards the tips ; tail with 

 a broad terminal belt of greenish-yellow, central 

 feathers otherwise green, but the lateral feathers with 

 the basal half of outer webs blue, deeper on the out- 

 side feather, the three outer ones also with a red spot 

 at the base of the inner webs ; front of crown, sides of 

 liead, and throat, blue; forehead, lores, and cheeks 

 with a purple tinge ; a broad red belt across the lower 

 throat ; breast and abdomen yellowish-green, each 

 feather dull pale-red at base and towards the black 

 -edge ; under tail-coverts and smaller under wing-coverts 

 yellowish-green ; greater under wing-coverts and base 

 of inner webs of flights below verditer-blue ; tail below 

 "black towards base, with three red basal spots as 

 above ; beak horn-blackish, yellowish at base of upper 

 mandible ; irides orange. Female probably with 

 shorter beak. Hab., St. Lucia, West Indies. 



I have found no notes on the wild life of this 

 Amazon ; it was formerly wrongly identified in the 

 Zoological Society's list as C. bovqueti. The first 

 example was purchased for the Gardens in 1874, and 

 two more were obtained in the year following. 



Bouqi'et's Amazon {C/iri/fotis houqucfi). 



Green, the feathers witih. black edges; upper tail- 

 ■coverts yeiUowish-green ; in'imary coverts blaekish-green 

 tinged with blue at the tipts; first primary black, the 

 otliers deep blue at base of inner webs and tinged with 

 green at the edges ; first three secondaries with a red 

 spot at base of outer webs, foraning a speculum ; all the 

 secondaries tingeid with blue towards the tips ; lateral 

 tail -feat hea'B with a broad gi-e'enish-yellow belt at the 

 lips; central feathcTs with narrow tips of the same 

 ■colour; first four featheris red at base of inner webs, 

 outer fejtlier with blue edging- to the base of the outer 

 web ; forehead. Icreis, orbital region, frcait of cheeks, 

 and throat purplish-blue ; a red spot on middle of lower 

 throat; greater under wing-eoverts verditer-green ; 

 flights below with the inner webis verditer-blue ; under 

 tail-coverts yellowish-green ; tail below with the ter- 

 minal half yellowi.=h-green, the inner webs of the lateral 

 feathers red at base ; beak pale horn-colour, yellowish 

 at base of upper niiandible ; feet dusjiy ; irides orange. 

 Female not 'difEerentiated. Hab., Dominica, West 

 Indies. 



As already noted, >Ir. Clark .Hated that this epecies 

 was extinot. In reply to this Mr. A. Hyatt-VerLll wrote 

 to Count Salvador! (see The Ilia, 1907.' pp. 365, 366) as 

 follows : " During the past thi'ee y-sars I have resided 

 in Dominica, and have made extensive collections of 

 the birds. I have found Cliri/sotii^ houqucfi particularly 

 abundant and easy to procure, and have eecured over 

 forty specimens. Graf von B«rlepech has a number 

 which I sent him. and others were dispo&ed of to 

 various collectors. This species is increasing rapidly, 

 and spreading over the whole island. On a foi-mer visit, 

 fifteen years ago, I found Bouquet's Parrot niucli rarer 

 than C. augusta, whereas at the present time it is far 

 more common. The birds are found within a few miles 

 of Roseau, and are particularly abundant in the Lagoon 

 valley in the centra! part of the island, -where they 

 aire very tame and feed near the houses of the planters 

 in enormous flooks. In fact, at that place I have fhot 

 them from the verand.'ihs of the houses. They are killed 

 in large numbers for the market, and during the open 

 (peason can be bought for Is. each. 



" How Mr. Olark could have been misled into sup- 

 posing this Parrot extinct is inexplicable to me." 



Although this bird appears never previously to have 

 reached the London Zoologica;l Gardens (the species 

 entered under that name in the list having, as already 

 stated, been C. versicolor), the Hon. and Rev. Canon 

 Dutton received a specianen in June, 1900, which he 

 subsequently sent to the Gardens. He says of it : " My 

 bird was tunie enough to let me scratch its head, but 

 beyond tliat had nothing to recon-miend it. It was not 

 aifectionate. it never said a word, and uttered cease- 

 le.=sly a cry which, although unlike that of any other 

 Amazon, was not the less wearisome on that account." 

 (T/ie Avicultural Maqazine, First Series, Vol. VII., 

 p. 110.) An excellent coloured plate accompames Canon 

 Dutton's article. 



GnATEM.\L.\N Amazon {Chrysutis guafemalcc). 



Green, upper- surface mealy ; feathers of hind neck 

 edged with blackish ; first primary 'black, the rest also 

 black, but with the bas;d half of the outer wehs green, 

 next to which colour the black is more or less suffused 

 with blue ; base of first four secondaries red, forming 

 a speculum ; tip'S of secondaries black, more or less 

 tinged with bhie ; tail with the terminal half yellow or 

 gi-eenish-yellow ; crown and striije over eye bluish ; 

 back of ci-own slightly tinged with lilaeine-grey ; cheeks 

 and undeo'-surface of body yellowisih-gTeen ; greater 

 imder wing-coverts verditer-blue with yellowish edges ; 

 inner webs of flights below partlv vei-diter-green ; beak 

 bluish-black, with a yellowish or reddish spot at bass 

 of upper mandible ; feet gi-eenish-ashy ; irides orange- 

 red. Female with a broader beak, e.speoially at the 

 base, the terminal hook coarser. Hab.. "Southern 

 Mexico and Central America, as far as Honduras ano 

 Nic-iragiia ('')" (Salvadori.) 



I have no notes on the -wild life of this Amazon in 

 any work in my library. Rus.s .'^peaks of it as rarer in 

 the trade thain Natterer's Amazon, yet the London Zoo- 

 logical Society has had several examples, the first being 

 purchased in 1870. 



Mealy Amazon {Chri/sotis fariiiofa). 



The adult male above is green, having a mealy appear- 

 ance ; below' paler, and yellowish on the under tail- 

 coverts ; forehead and cheeks yellowish ; centre of crown 

 yellow, frequently finely spotted with red ; feathers of 

 back of head, nape, and hind-neck edged behind with 

 hlaok; front margin of wing and tpeculum scarlet; pri- 

 maries bkck, bluish at tips, all excepting the first green 

 towards the base of the outer webis, between which and 

 the black is a bluish tinge; tail with a ycllowisih band 

 on its terminal half, the outer tail-feather often with its 

 outer web narrowly edged with blue ; beak pale horn- 

 grey, cere blackish, baee of botlr mandibles with an 

 orange-yellowish symt ; feet blackish-grey powdered with 

 whitish, the claws black ; iris brown internally, red or 

 orange towards the outside. Female apparently with 

 less yellow and no red on the crown, and probably with 

 the irides paler (as is certainly the case in eome, if not 

 all. Amazons) ; the beak slightly broader at base, longer, 

 and with mere slender terminal hook (thus forming an 

 exception to the general rule). Hab., Guiana and 

 apparently Eastern Brazil. 



I5urmeister describes the beak of this bird as clear 

 bluish-gi-ey, almost white at the tip. He says that this 

 is the largest species of its genus in Brazil and' ap- 

 parently in the whole of America. It is very common 

 on the Amazon and throug-hout Guiana. 



Dr. Emil A. Goeldi, in a.n article on the birds of 



