358 Wright, Early Records of the Carolina Paroquet. [july 



been occasionally observed among the valleys of the Juniata, and 

 according to some, even twenty miles north-west of Albany, in 

 the state of New York." 



For some time after 1781 various authors continued to suppose ^ 

 "that in this (Mississippi) valley the temperature is higher than 

 in the same parallels in the Atlantic country .... Mr. Jefferson 

 asserts, that ... .paroquets, are seen farther north on the Ohio 

 and Mississippi, than on the Atlantic shore. If it be so, the 

 inference, drawn from these facts, might easily be shown to be 

 erroneous, by showing, that their locality along these streams is 

 fixed by other circumstances, than temperature The im- 

 mense numbers of paroquets, that are seen on the lower courses of 

 the Mississippi, will naturally push their colonies far to the north 

 on that river, where they still find all circumstances, but tempera- 

 ture, the same; where there are old, large and hollow sycamore 

 trees, the favorite haunts of this brilliant bird, furnishing it at once 

 food, shelter, and a home." In another place, Flint speaks at 

 equal length of the ^ " Parroquet, psittacus Caroliniensis. These 

 are birds of the parrot class, seen from latitude 40° to the gulf of 

 Mexico. Their food is the fruit of the sycamore, and their retreat 

 in the hollow of that tree. They are a very voracious bird, preying 

 on apples, grapes, and figs, and all kinds of fruit. They fly in 

 large flocks, and are seen in greatest numbers before a storm, or a 

 great change in the weather. They have hooked, ivpry bills, a 

 splendid mixture of burnished gilding and green on the heads, and 

 their bodies are a soft and j^et brilliant green. Their cry, as they 

 are flying, is shrill and discordant. They are said to perch, by 

 hanging by their bill to a branch. When they are taken, they make 

 battle, and their hooked bill pounces into the flesh of their enemy. 

 They are annoying to fruit orchards, and in this respect a great 

 scourge to the farmer. We have seen no bird of the size, with 

 plumage so brilliant. They impart a singular magnificence to the 

 forest prospect, as they are seen darting through the foliage, and 

 among the white branches of the sycamore." And, finally, in 

 Florida, whose ornithology "is probably the richest in North 



1 Flint, Timothy. The History and Geograpliy of the Mississippi Valley. 

 2nd edit., 2 vols. Cincinnati, 1832. Vol. I, pp. 32, 187, 292, 71, 72. 



2 Flint, Timothy, ibid., 2 vols in one. Cincinnati, 1832, Vol. I, pp. 71, 72, 200. 



