BIRDS — PSITTACIDAE — CONURDS CAROLINENSIS. 67 



CONURUS CAROLINENSIS, Kuhl. 



Parakeet ; Carolina Parrot. 



Psittttca carolinensis, Brisson, Oriiitli. II, 1762, 138. 



Psitlacus carolinensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1758, 97; 17GG, 141, (nee Scopoli.) — Wilson, Am. Orn. Ill, 1811, 89 



pi. xxvi, fig. 1.— AuD. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 13.''), pi. 26. 

 Conurus carolinensis, Kdhl, Nova Acta K. L. C. 1830. — Bon. List. 183S. — Pr. Max. Cabanig Journ. fiir Orn. 



V, March, 1851, 97. 

 Cenlm-us carolinensis, Aud. Syn. 1839, 189.— Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 306, pi. 278. 

 Psiltacus bidovicianus, Gm. Syst. I, 1788, 347. 



Carolina parrot, Catesbt, Car. I, tab. xi. — Latham, Syn. I, 227. — Pennant, II, 242. 

 Orange-headed parrot , Latham, Syn. I, 304. 



Sp. Ch. — Head and neck all round gamboge yellow, the forehead, from above the eyes, with the sides of the head, pale 

 brick red. Body generally and tail green, with a yellowish tinge beneath. Outer webs of primaries bluish green, yellow at 

 the base; secondary coverts edged with yellowish. Edge of wing yellow, tinged with red; tibiae yellow. Bill white. Legs 

 flesh color. Length about 13 inches ; wing 7.50; tail 7.10. Young with head and neck green. 



Hab. — Southern and southwestern States, as for west as the Missouri. 



In the si^ecimens before me I have been unable to detect any difference between the sexes ; 

 the young I have not had the opportunity of examining, but Audubon states that the head and 

 neck are green. 



The description by Linnaeus of Psittaeus carolinensis presents nothing characteristic of this 

 species, being based on a defective figure of Catesby. Brisson's indication is, however^ unmis- 

 takable. The P. pertinax of Linna3us has usually been considered as the young of the Carolina 

 parrot, but it proves to be a distinct South American species, without any red on the head. 



This species on the Atlantic slope has been seen, at rare intervals, as far north as Pennsyl- 

 vania, t'liough rare at the present day even in South Carolina. Westward they occur high up 

 on the Missouri, though none have been collected or seen by any recent expeditions much west 

 of that river. Barton, in his Fragments of the Natural History of Pennsylvania, page 6, says 

 that a very large flock was met with in January, 1780, about twenty-five miles northwest of 

 Albany, and caused great terror in the minds of the Dutch settlers, who imagined that they 

 portended the destruction of the world. 



