Vol. XXIX 



1912 



J Wright, Early Records of the Carolina Paroquet. 361 



green paroquet whose seream is anything but pleasant." The 

 following year, Williams mentions the ^ "Paroquet Psittacus 

 carolinensis " as of Florida; while in Missouri, Wetmore thinks,^ 

 "The paroquet found in Missouri deserves notice, as peculiar in 

 character and attractive in plumage. This is a bird strangely 

 resembling the green parrot in colour and form ; and it is reported 

 of them, that at night they repose within the cavity of a hollow 

 tree, hanging by their curved Roman -nose-beaks. This report 

 may require confirmation." The last notes of the decade are from 

 the pen of Judge Hall, who says,^ " The paroquet is now seldom 

 seen north of Cincinnati. They are abundant below Louisville, 

 where flocks of them are heard chattering in the woods, or beheld 

 sporting their green plumage in the sunbeams." In enumerating 

 several forms of the western country, as an afterthought, he con- 

 cludes "with the addition of the paroquet, a bird of beautiful 

 plumage, but very bad character, whose thievish propensities 

 renders him a great nuisance to orchards and cornfields." 



In the next decade, Kennedy in a list of the birds of Texas, 

 mentions * " the gay, clamorous, and pilfering paroquet, ..." 

 In "Notes on the Northwest, etc." Bradford in 1846, finds ^ "a 

 small paroquet. ... (is) met occasionally." In the "Fauna and 

 Flora of Georgia," George White 1849 speaks of ® " Cen turns 

 Carolinensis. It is a remarkable fact that our paroquets are very 

 rapidly diminishing in number. Along our maritime districts 

 where 15 or 20 years ago they were plentiful, scarcely any are now 

 to be found; and it is probable that in a short time they will 

 entirely disappear from our State." 



In 1851, Schoolcraft in his "Personal Memoirs," when between 

 Louisville and Shippensport, writes,^ "It was about this point, 

 or a little above, that we first noticed the gay and noisy parroquet, 



1 Williams, J. L. The Territory of Florida, etc. New York, 1837, p. 73. 



2 Wetmore, A. Gazetteer of the State of Missouri. St. Louis, Mo., 1837. 

 pp. 30, 31. 



3 Hall, Jas. Notes on the Western States: Phila. 1838, p. 124. 



" Kennedy, Wm. Texas: etc. 2nd edit. London, 1841, p. 130. 



5 Bradford, Wm. J. A. Notes on the Northwest or Valley of the Upper Missis- 

 sippi. New York and London, 1846, p. 20. 



6 White. George. Statistics of the State of Georgia. Savannah, 1849, p. 12. 



' Schoolcraft, H. R. Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with 

 the Indian Tribes of the American Frontiers: etc. Phila., Pa., 1851, p. 26. 



