° 1906 J Bergtold, Concerning the Thick-billed Parrot. 427 



mon in the same neighborhood, and is the only woodpecker which 

 excavates such a large hole. After watching the parrots a few days 

 we were convinced that there must be young in every hole, judging 

 by the seeming anxiety of the birds when about these holes, and 

 their frequent visits to them. Having no climbers, we had to 

 chop down the first nesting tree we found; it stood near our camp, 

 at an altitude of about 9500 feet (aneroid reading of 21.95 inches); 

 it took nearly all day to chop and burn through the trunk, as this 

 standing dead timber becomes exceedingly hard on drying. When 

 this tall tree fell its upper part broke into several pieces, and we 

 were greatly disappointed to find that the fall had killed the two 

 young birds which we found at the bottom of one of the old wood- 

 pecker nests. These young birds w r ere only partly fledged, in fact 

 quite immature for so late a date (Oct. 5); this might indicate 

 that the eggs are laid late, unless the period of incubation be long, 

 or the development of the young be unusually slow. The last flock 

 seen in the fall of 1903 was noted about ten miles east of Chuichupa 

 on the morning of November 15; it was a cold day, and ice had 

 formed on the near by creek the preceding night, all going to show 

 that this parrot can endure considerable cold. The writer collected 

 some skins of this species, and could have collected many more had 

 it seemed desirable. The local Mexican name for this bird is 

 Giiacamayo, i. e., the Spanish for parrot, and the Mexicans there- 

 about do not mention any other variety as coming to their notice. 

 These birds are handsome, big creatures, and were a source of end- 

 less interest and amusement to us all. 



We were mistaken in assuming that every tree with woodpecker 

 holes visited by the parrots contained young; we located another 

 promising tree which had several holes to which a pair of parrots 

 made frequents visits. While cutting down this tree the pair of 

 parrots became very much excited, and betrayed every mark of 

 anxious parents. After a half day's work this tree was safely 

 felled, but we found absolutely nothing in any of the old holes. 



The various places mentioned in Mr. Thayer's notes are amongst 

 the Morman colonies spoken of above; they are only about 100 

 miles southwest of El Paso, Cases Grandes, on the Sierra Madra & 

 Pacific Railroad, being the railway point for these colonies. At 

 Cases Grandes an outfit can be gathered, and, too, it is a suitable 



