1892.] Butler on the Carolina Parrakeet. C I 



The earliest published notice I find of its occurrence in Indiana is 

 in Dr. Haymond's account of the 'Birds of Southeastern Indiana' 

 in 1856 in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy. He 

 says: "This bird was fonnerly very numerous along the White 

 Water River. Several years have elapsed since any of them have 

 been seen." The same author in his report on the Birds of 

 Franklin County, Indiana, 1S69, also alludes to their former 

 abundance. 



Some little investigation has brought to my attention a number 

 of interesting facts. Dr. George Beriy of Brookville informs me 

 they were last seen by him in that vicinity in 1S35. Mr. Peter 

 Pelsor of Metamora formerly lived at North's Landing, Switzer- 

 land County, where in the winter of 1S3S-39, Parakeets were 

 common. Prof. John Collett has informed me of Its occurrence 

 along the Wabash River as far up as Fort Wayne. He further 

 notes that as a bo}', from 1834 ^^ 1S44, he was accustomed to 

 seeing flocks of from thirty to fifty on his father's farm in Ver- 

 milion County. Judge A. L. Roache, of Indianapolis, informs 

 me that his father's family moved to Monroe County in 1828 

 when Parrakeets were common there. The family came from 

 western Tennessee where the bird was well known and abundant. 

 He savs they were to be found in Monroe County also in 1836, 

 and the same year, and perhaps the year after, he noted them near 

 Rockville, Parke County. Prof. B. W. Evermann has also learned 

 from tlie late Louis Bollman of the occurrence of the species in 

 Monroe County in 1831. My father informs me that the last 

 Parrakeets he saw in Indiana were at Merom, on the Wabash 

 River in 1834. ^^ \\\^'^ time he saw a small flock of about a 

 dozen. He also told me of seeing a small number — perhaps six 

 individuals — along Pogue's Run near Indianapolis. He thinks the 

 last-mentioned observation was made in 1832. When he was a 

 boy (1806-8) they were common about Brookville, but at that 

 time they were noticeably less in numbei's than a few years be- 

 fore. Prof. E. T. Cox informs me they were as numerous as 

 Blackbirds {^uiscalus qiiiscula ceneus) when he went to New 

 Harmony in 1826. 



Mr. Fielding Beeler of Indianapolis says he was born in 1823 

 and grew to manhood within seven miles of the city in which he 

 now lives, and has a very distinct recollection of the Parrakeets. 

 Xh^y were rather rai'e, and he thinks they disappeared from that 



