114 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



Of their former abundance in Missouri we have the testimony 

 of several early explorers. Ascending the Missouri River, Prince 

 of Wied enters in his diary, April 14, 1833: "On several planta- 

 tions we saw troops of Paroquets sitting on corn-stalks" (prob- 

 ably corn of the preceding year left in the field). He was then 

 in the region of Boonville. On the following day (April 15, 

 1833), when west of Brunswick, he writes: "Above Wakonda 

 Creek (Carroll Co.) we stopped for the night; the hunters dis- 

 persed, but brought back nothing but Paroquets. Again on 

 April 21, above the Kaw River, he mentions the shooting of 

 Passenger Pigeons and Paroquets. Also on April 23, north of 

 Fort Leavenworth, he says, "the hunters procured only paro- 

 quets." On his return down the river in the spring of 1834, 

 Prince of Wied observed Paroquets when in the region of Atchi- 

 son Co., May 14, 1834. In his "Narrative of a Journey Across 

 the Rocky Mountains," J. K. Townsend wrote, April 7, 1833, at 

 Boonville : ' ' We saw here vast numbers of the beautiful Parrot 

 of this country, the Psittacus carolinensis. They flew around 

 us in flocks, keeping a constant and loud screaming, as though 

 they would chide us for invading their territory; and the 

 splendid green and red of their plumage glancing in the sunshine, 

 as they whirled and circled within a few feet of us, had a most 

 magnificent appearance. They seemed entirely unsuspicious of 

 danger, and after being fired at only huddled closer together as 

 if to obtain protection from each other, and as their companions 

 are falling around them, they curve down their necks and look 

 at them fluttering upon the ground, as though perfectly at a 

 loss to account for so unusual an occurrence. It is a most in- 

 glorious sort of shooting, downright, cold-blooded murder." 

 When Audubon, Harris, Bell and Squires went up the Missouri 

 River in 1843, they did not meet with any paroquets until they 

 came to Independence, where on May 2, 1843, Bell killed two; 

 on the next day near Fort Leavenworth he again "killed one 

 out of a great number." On May 4 seventeen Paroquets were 

 seen between Leavenworth and St. Joseph, and on the 7th, 

 when nearing the corner of the state. Paroquets were "plenti- 

 ful." Passing the northwest corner of Missouri on May 8, 

 Audubon again noted " Parrakeets ; " also when in the neighbor- 

 hood of Omaha on the 10th, with the remark: "Parrakeets and 

 Turkeys plentiful." On his return trip in the fall of the same 

 year, he speaks of the kilhng of four "Parrakeets," October 9, 

 1843, the day before reaching Fort Leavenworth. When Dr. 

 P. R. Hoy visited the state on his tour of exploration of western 



