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Review



The Amazons are a numerous race, and as I have already said, the

closest rivals in speech of the Greys. They have, too, this advantage,

that they are not subject to the mysterious fever to which multitudes

of the latter succumb. They are Parrots proper, Psittaci with short

tails, and their home is tropical South America, with the exception of

one small and pretty species, the white-fronted Cuban Amazon. By

far the best known is the Blue-fronted, which is almost always a more

or less proficient talker ; others are the Festive Amazon, green with

a red back and forehead ; Le Vaillants, or the Double-fronted, which

has a yellow head and neck ; the Yellow-naped ; the Mealy, the latter

all green with a bloom on its plumage which the French call poudre.


The last American race to which will I allude are the Conures or

Wedge-tailed Parrots. They all have fairly long tails for their size,

but differ vastly in colour, dimensions, and characteristics. Few of

the many species talk; but one, the Patagonian Conure (my specimen

of which is probably known to most of you from the power of his lungs)

is often a fair speaker. The tribe is remarkable for this, that whereas

one species, the Patagonian Conure, is found farther south than any

other Parrot even, i.e. at the Straits of Magellan, another, the

Carolina Conure, is the one Parrot of North America, and has been

found as far north as Ontario.


(To be continued.)



REVIEW


Handlist of the Birds of Egypt. By M. J. Nicoll, F.Z.S.,

M.B.O.U. pp. xii, 119, with map and 31 plates (8 coloured). Cairo :

Government Press. 1919.


Since Shelley’s Handbook is now out of date and has also become

somewhat scarce, we are pleased to be able to recommend to the bird-

loving visitor to Egypt, as well as to the ornithologist, this work from

the pen of one so competent to write on the subject as the Assistant

Director of the Egyptian Zoological Service.


The work, however, is more than a mere list, as in addition to giving

the status of each of the 436 species and subspecies recorded as having

occurred in Egypt, Mr. Nicoll has added a short diagnosis of each form,



