834 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



CAROLINA PARRAKEET. 



THE CAROLINA PARRAKEET. 



By Lee S. Crandall. 

 Assistant Curator of Birds. 



AMONG the great zoogeographical regions 

 of the world, the nearctic, which includes 

 the greater part of North America, seems 

 to have suffered most severely from the modern 

 extermination of wild forms of life. Hardl}- a 

 single large game animal is holding its own in 

 numbers, while many of the game birds are in 

 an even worse plight. The Labrador duck and 

 the jiassenger pigeon have gone; the heath-hen 

 and the whooj)ing crane have been reduced to 

 pitiful remnants of what once were widelj' dis- 

 tributed species. The former is now confined 

 entirel}' to the island preserve on Martha's Vine- 

 yard, and the cycles of the lives of these few 

 individuals are guarded and watched as careful- 

 ly as possible by wardens and scientific investi- 

 gators. The cranes are scattered to the four 

 winds, protected only by their powerful wings 

 and keen instinct for self-jjreservation. These 

 birds have been persecuted unceasingly by reck- 

 less sportsmen who did not realize the wrong 

 they were doing until the harm was done. 

 Other species, also, which are not included in 

 the category of game birds, are fast disappear- 

 ing, and one of these forms the subject of the 

 present article. 



The Carolina Parrakeet, {Conuropsis carolin- 

 ensis), was formerly a bird of fair abundance 

 throughout the eastern and central United 

 States. Great flocks roamed the country from 

 Florida to the Great Lakes, and from Colorado 

 to Texas. There are records of their occur- 

 rence in twenty-two states and one territory, 

 with a probability of their having strayed into 

 five others. 



These birds were remarkably hardy for mem- 

 bers of their Order, and numerous instances 

 have been recorded of their appearance during 

 snow-storms, and in the depth of winter. It 

 seems probable, therefore, that the parrakeets 

 roamed throughout the j'ear over a great portion 

 of their range, and nested in many parts of it. 

 Their food consisted of such wild seeds, nuts 

 and berries as they were able to find, the cockle- 

 burr being mentioned as one of the favorite ar- 

 ticles of their diet. 



It is unfortunate that not a single properly 

 authenticated description of the nest has been 

 published. A consideration of the methods of 

 nidification of most other Psittacine birds, and 

 particular!}' of those of the very close relatives 

 of Conuropsis, would lead to the conclusion that 

 the eggs were laid, in all probability, in hollows 

 of trees. This was stated to be the case by both 

 Audubon and Wilson and is confirmed by infor- 

 mation obtained by Dr. Hornaday at Grant, 



