PARROTS. 867 



entrance to the small interior. The sjiecios of Psittaciila, seven in number, range 

 from Mexico to nortliern Brazil. They are small birds, green and blue in coloration. 



The PiONiDvE — parrots with short, broad, and straight tails, half as long as the 

 wintrg ; strong bill, with the upper half grooved and toothed near the tip ; the cere 

 extending across the base of the bill, j)roduced in front of the nostrils, and naked ; and 

 a green coloration prevailing — are found in both tropical America and tropical Africa. 

 At the breeding season they separate into pairs, but at other times they form large, 

 sometimes enormous, flocks. On the ground the larger species are awkward, but the 

 smaller ones are i)erfectly at lioine. Their natural voice is harsh, V)ut they are all good 

 talkers, some being excelled in this respect only by the jako. Over eighty species are 

 known, seventy belonging to the New World. 



Of the genera, Androf/lossa {Chri/sotis) is the largest and best known. It con- 

 tains the green parrots known as Amazons. These are distril)uted over Mexico, the 

 West Indies, and South America. They are so much alike in habits that a descriji- 

 tion of one will answer pretty well for all. IMr. Gosse, in describing the Jamaican 

 species, says : — 



"Flocks varying from half a dozen to twenty or thirty fly hitlier and thither over 

 the forest, screeching as they go, and all alight together on some tree covered with 

 berries. Here they feast, but with caution. On a slight alarm one screams, and the 

 whole flock is on the wing, vociferous if not musical, and brilliant if not beautiful, 

 particularly when the sun shines on their green backs and crimsoned wings. They 

 generally prefer lofty trees, except when, in June, the ripe yellow jjlantain teni])t8 

 them to descend, or when the blackberry shines on the pimento. Of the latter, the 

 flocks devour an immense quantity, and the former they destroy by cutting it to pieces 

 with their ])0werful beaks, to get at tlie small seeds. One day in January, when the 

 jiimento on the brow of Bluefields Mountain was about ready for picking, being full- 

 sized, but yet green and hard, I observed large flocks of black-bills [.1. af/iUs'\, and a 

 few parakeets flying to and fro with voluble chatter, now alighting to feed on the hot 

 aromatic berry, now flying off and wheeling round to the same neighborhood again. 

 ... Of two which I shot on this occasion, I found the crop stuffed with the cotyle- 

 dons of the seed alone, the most pungently aromatic part of the berry ; the fleshy 

 part having been, as I jjresuinc, shorn off by the beak and rejected. When alighted, 

 as is often the case, on a dry branch, their emerahl hue is conspicuous, and affords a 

 fine mark for the gunner ; but in a tree of full foliage their color proves an excellent 

 concealment. They seem to be aware of this, and their sagacity prompts them to 

 rely on it for security. Often we hear their voices proceeding from a certain tree, or 

 else have marked the descent of a flock upon it, but on proceeding to the spot, though 

 the eye has not wandered from it, and we are sure that they are there, we catmot dis- 

 cover an individual. We go close to the tree, but all is silent and still as death; we 

 institute a careful survey of every part with the eye, to detect the slightest motion, 

 or the form of a bird, among the leaves, but in vain. We begin to think that they 

 have stolen off unperceived, but, on throwing a stone into the tree, a dozen throats 

 burst forth into cry, and as many green liirds rush forth on the wing." 



The species of Jhrotypus and Caica, four in number, also belong to tropical 

 America, while the ten of Porocephalus, the last of the order, are African. 



J. S. KlUGSLEY. 



