Volxx,I l General Notes. i\\ 



1905 J O L x 



parrakeet of Guadeloupe is said to have been the smallest of the Antillean 

 species, and to have been green throughout except for some small red 

 feathers in the head, with a white beak, and about the size of a thrush 

 (Labat). 



Brisson (Orn., IV, p. 330, 1760) under "La Perruche de la Guadeloupe" 

 says : "Size of a half grown chicken, green throughout; naked skin 

 about eye, white ; iris red ; cere white ; beak, feet, and claws, white. 

 Found in Brazil and Guadeloupe." This description was probably 

 founded on that of Labat, and is unfortunately applicable to more than 

 one species, although, perhaps, it may best be referred to Co/turns euops. 

 It cannot have been taken from a Cuban bird, however, as Labat was for 

 many years a resident in these islands, and was well aware that the avi- 

 fauna of any one differs markedly from that of any of the others. 



Under the name of "La Perruche de la Martinique," Brisson (/. <-., p. 

 356) gives a description of a bird which covers perfectly the well-known 

 Co nit r 11$ ceruginosus of the mainland, referring to Edwards (Birds IV, pi. 

 177, p- 177, 1751) for a figure of the species. It is on this plate and 

 description that Linnaeus's [Psittacus~] ceruginosus (Syst. Nat., I, p. 142, 

 No. 17, 1766) is founded. Brisson says that this bird is found In Mar- 

 tinique, and also in various places on the mainland, while Edwards gives 

 for it the rather vague habitat of "West Indies." Very likely this is a 

 case of a continental species wrongly credited to the Antilles (compara- 

 ble to that of Brotogerys tut) ; but we have no evidence to show that this 

 is the case, and it is not at all improbable that the Conurus of Martinique 

 was a brown-throated species, similar to C. ceruginosus. 



There appears to be no description extant of the species which formerly 

 inhabited Dominica; but it seems to have been exterminated at an earlj'' 

 date. Ober's remarks (quoted by Lawrence, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., I, p. 

 64, 1878) doubtless had reference to Amazona bouqtteti, and not to any 

 species of Conurus. 



Hughes, in his 'Natural History of Barbados ' (1750) under "The Para- 

 kite" (p. 73) says: "This is of the frugivorous kind, and about the big- 

 ness of a thrush, having a longer and more crooked bill. It feeds on all 

 manner of berries, popaws, and ripe plantains, residing chiefly in inac- 

 cessible gullies. The bird borrows its name from its resemblance in 

 make, but not in plumage, to the small green parakite." Sir Robert 

 Schomburgk (Hist. Barbados, p. 681, 1848) includes " Psittactts passer i- 

 nus n in his list of the birds of the island, but no parrakeet is mentioned 

 by Ligon. 



In summing up the above it will be seen that, while there appears to be 

 ample evidence for admitting the genus Conurus into the avifauna of the 

 Lesser Antilles as formerly resident on Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, 

 and Barbados, all that we can say respecting the species is that the one on 

 Guadeloupe was the smallest (of those on the French islands), and resem- 

 bled C. euops of Cuba. Whether the Lesser Antillean birds were colonies 

 of continental species (comparable to the case of Ceryle torquata [stictt- 



