FAMILY PSITTACIDAE 97 



away. On the Rio Tuira, near Boca de Paya, I noted one interesting 

 frightening device that was made of a thin strip of balsa wood cut 

 to resemble a hawk in silhouette. A cross strip fastened by a peg, 

 with half a dozen pavon feathers thrust in the wood simulated wings, 

 others formed a tail. This crude bird form, two-thirds of a meter 

 long, suspended by a cord attached to the peg that fastened the wings 

 to the body, gyrated actively in the wind so that it gave a clever 

 simulation of flight. 



Food supplies other than the cornfields, when in abundance, as 

 stated, attract the birds in fair-sized flocks. It seems probable that 



Figure 11. — Blue-headed parrot, casanga, Pionus menstruus rubrigularis. 



after the breeding season these bands may move about to some degree. 

 In work during several months on Isla San Jose and Isla Pedro 

 Gonzalez nearby, we did not find casangas in the nesting period from 

 February through April. But at the beginning of May a few pairs 

 appeared, and by June these parrots were present in noisy flocks. 

 They were attracted especially by the ripening fruit of the membrillo. 



In the nesting season, when the birds are in pairs, they are mainly 

 silent, but in later flock formation they are constantly noisy. Their 

 chattering calls are rather high-pitched, and so differ from those of 

 the large Amazon parrots and the macaws. The flocks sleep in com- 

 pany, coming to the same places each evening and leaving the follow- 

 ing morning at sunrise. Eggs, according to Schonwetter (Handb. 

 Ool., pt. 9, 1964, p. 520) measure 32.0-36.2x24.7-27.4 mm. 



The blue-headed parrot has a broad range from southeastern 



