AMAZONS. 



175 



emotions of rage, pleasure, fear, etc., precisely in the 

 same manner as a child would. Wlien .startkd or iuigry 

 it would shout at the top of its voico exactly like a. boy 

 in a passion, filling up the intwvals between the shouts 

 with heart-rending sobs ; sometimes it would call in a 

 loud voice (whioli could be heard half-way down the 

 road) for I^a, but Lala never came to help it. On 

 enquirj- I discovered that Lala was the Parrot's render- 

 ing for Nana, an ayah who at one lime had stayed with 

 a child at my aunt's house. 



Althoagh our .Vmazon said uiany things very dis- 

 tinctly, and evidciutiy, in many cases, imderstood the 

 meaning of wliat it was saying to some e.\tent, it also 

 talked a lot of utten-ly unintelligible twaddle to itself, 

 apparently asking itself a .series of nonsensical questions, 

 to each of which it answered witii a grave decided swing 

 of its head — " Xo ! " One funny little series of questions 

 often took place wlien one first came down in the 

 morning: The bird would >trctoh out its neck, look 



Yklluwfkontei) A.mazon (Female). 



fixedly at you, and ask — "Quite well?" ''Better, 

 thanks Pojly." "()! much better?" "Yes, much 

 better." "Quite better?" "Yes, quite better." 

 "Quito right," and with a swing of its neck the bii-d 

 turned round and ibegan to strut (backwards and for- 

 wai'ds. Another favoui-ite series of sentences was gone 

 through whenever anyone came into the room dressed 

 for a walk : " Are you going out?" "Are you going in 

 the park." "There's a cat in the park!" "Good- 

 bye." 



This bird was my servant's 7iet. She carried it about 

 on her shoulder, and I was often afraid it would peck 

 her eyes out .: it bit her once or twaice. but when it died 

 in February'. 1898. she was almost inconsolable. 



A good many specimens of this species have been 

 e.xhibitcd at the London Zoological Gardens, the first 

 received there being presented in 1868. 



Yellow-billed Ajuzon (Chnjsotis panamensis). 



. Very like the preceding species, but smaller, the vertex 



-of the head tinged with glaucous-gi-een ; the yeJlow of 



the head confined to tlie front, where the glauoous-gi'een 



is v.-anting ; hairy feathers round nostrils partly golden ; 

 the thighs yellow ; be.ik yellowish (whitish horn-grey 

 accordnig to Russ), leiul-coloured at tip. FemaJe pro- 

 bably with shorter and broader Ibeak. Hab., I'anama, 

 Veragua, and Colombia. 



I have obtained no information respecting the wild 

 life. Russ states that it comes into the market associ- 

 ated with t^he preceding species and is li-siially not lis- 

 tinguished from it, doubtless it is equailly gifted. He 

 de.'cribes another (species?) und-eir the name of Hagen- 

 beek'.s Amazon {Psillacus hagenhecH), which has been 

 ignored by systematistfi; it is said to differ from 

 C ochrocephalus in its wiiite beak with blackish tip, 

 the almost entire absence of red from the edge of the 

 wuig and the tail, as wU as the different marking of 

 the lat^ter (each feather wit.h a weak reddish .spot) ; from 

 C. panamensis by its clearer green under surface, the 

 lack of the bliie-gi'esn spot on the abdomen, yellow 

 thighs and superior size Hab., Unknown. If those 

 birds come hoime together from Colombia, where both 

 occur, is it not probable that they may interbi-^ed there 

 audi produce inter-grades in size and coloration? The 

 Zoological Society of lx)ndon has, at vaa-ious times, 

 owned a fair number of this species; it would be in- 

 teresting to know whether all have been perfectly 

 typical. 



GoLDEN-N.\PED AMAZON [Chri/sul is uiui palUata). 



The adult male is grass-igreen, rather paler below 

 than above; the nape and often part of the orown 

 yellow ; edge and bend of wing with a few red feathers ; 

 w'lng speculum red; primaries black, ail excepting the 

 first with the base of itheir oirter webs green; tips of 

 both primaries and secondaries shot with blue ; tail with 

 a yelilowisli terminal belt; lateral feathers with the 

 inner webs red ait base ; outer feathers edged "With blue 

 at base of outer w^eb ; beak pale horn-gi-ey, yellowish at 

 base of upper mandible ; cere black ; feet diisky ; iris 

 orange-red to hazel. Female \vitji narrower beak, less 

 bell-shaped when viewed fi-om above, more arched, and 

 with shorter terminal hook. Halb., Western Central 

 Ameriaa from Guatemala to Costa Rica and Tigre and 

 Ruataii Islands. 



Mr. C. F LTndeiTvood, writing on the Birds of the 

 Volcano of Mirava,lles [The Ibis, 1896, pp. 445, 446) 

 says : — " Very rare so high up ; m fact, I only reanember 

 seeing some three or four pairs flying over the whole 

 timel was tliere. But, on the other liand, in Bagaces 

 these Par-rots are extremely abundant, and regularly 

 make the town their headquart'Ca-s ; in fact, 'the traveller 

 arriving there a little before sunset is often dea.fened 

 by their noise, and on his fir.=t visit is aima7y6d at the 

 strange scene. From all sides arrive innumerable bands 

 iind solitaiy pairs of " Loros " (the Spanish name), which 

 remain for" about an hour squabbling and figjhting, con- 

 stantly changing their perches before going to roost in 

 the low trees in the immediate \dcinity of the houses. 

 " Supas " (Macaws) also make the town their roosting 

 quaii'ters. At daybreak there is a repetition of the 

 noise ; they then go off to their various feeding-groiinds. 



" The natives here appa-eciate a good talking Loro 

 as a pet as much as Europeans do. The young are 

 eagerly sought after, and the birds, when they begin 

 to talk— which is generally at about a year old — ^sell 

 for fairly good prices. This species seems to be by 

 far the most easily taught." 



According to the Hon. and Rev. Canon F. G. Button, 

 this bird is a marvellous talker, and he recommends it 

 very highly as a pet. It is a general favourite, but 



