THE



SUricultural /Ifoacjasme,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



VOL. VIII. — NO. 12. All rights reserved. OCT., 1902.



THE ST. LUCIA PARROT.


By Lady Thompson.


The St. Lucia Parrot ( Chrysotis versicolor ) is one of the

three largest Amazons, but it is very unlike C. augusta and still

more unlike their neighbour of St. Vincent, the Chrysotis

guildingii, which does not possess the familiar blues and greens

of all other Amazons.


The Versicolor is not uncommon in the high woods of St.

Lucia, but very few uninjured specimens are found in captivity,

and even in St. Lucia they command a high price alive.

Unfortunately dead birds may be found almost every week in the

market of the little town ol Soufriere, and they are eaten as a

delicacy by botli black and white Creoles. The Parrots, called

in patois “Jacquots” or “ Perroquets,” are protected by

legislation during the nesting season, but, owing to the wild

nature of the country where they are found, it is difficult to

enforce the law. I have heard the unmistakable cry of the

Parrots more than once in my rides through mountain tracks,

and once I saw three birds together.


Of those that I have known in captivity, one only was a

good talker, and that bird had been for many years in the

possession of a Creole family in St. Vincent. The other caged

birds I have come across were tame, but the only words I have

heard them speak were the usual Creole “ Chere cocotte ” and

“ Macac ” (i.e., monkey, a patois term of abuse). But both

these words so closely resemble the natural little cry the birds

constantly utter that I rather doubt if they spoke genuine words

at all.


The three birds that I had became perfectly tame, but

they were, I thought, uninteresting pets ; as a rule they took

little interest in their surroundings, but, when excited by certain

sounds, I have seen them spread their tails, and perform a kind of



