Auk 



288 Ci^AKK, Habiis of Cerfain Venezuelan Birds. I jj' 



to twenty are continually passing and repassing. They have two 

 traits which are more or less common to all the group : they 

 become instantly quiet and motionless on alighting, and are 

 therefore very hard to locate in a tree ; and they show great 

 solicitude for a comrade in distress. I had been on Margarita a 

 couple of weeks before I was able to secure a specimen, in spite 

 of their abundance, so restless are they ; but at last I succeeded, 

 by dint of skilful manoeuvreing, in wounding one, which came 

 fluttering down, square onto a ' tuna ' bush, on which it was 

 impaled, struggling and screeching. The remainder of the flock, 

 about a dozen in all, immediately descended, and hovered about 

 their unfortunate companion, some alighting on the ground, and 

 others in a neighboring thorn tree, displaying as much anxiety as 

 a robin does, when some intruder is in the vicinity of her nest. 

 In fact, so unsuspicious were they, and so heedless of my presence, 

 that I secured eight and could have got others, had I been able 

 to care for them properly. 



Perhaps I might add parenthetically an item in regard to these 

 eight parrakeets, which illustrates one of the inconveniences of 

 tropical collecting. I took them back to El Valle, the little town 

 in which I was staying, together M'ith four Burrowing Owls 

 {Speotyto brachyptera Richm.), a White-tailed Buzzard {Buteo 

 albicaudatiis Vieill.), and a number of shore-birds and terns. As 

 I had had no food since early morning (it was then the middle of 

 the afternoon) and had passed a particularly trying day, walking 

 many miles over shadeless, scorching sand, I thought that I would 

 eat a light repast and take a short nap before skinning my 

 trophies. In about half an hour I arose, and was much interested, 

 as well as surprised, to see a long line of feathers, green, brown, 

 gray, and white, moving along close to the wall, and disappearing 

 into a hole. Investigation revealed the fact that the motive force 

 behind each feather was a small ant. A hasty examination of my 

 specimens showed me that seven of my parrakeets were so 

 denuded as to be useless, all the owls were ruined, and the water 

 birds were so greasy as to be unfit for preservation ; the hawk, 

 also, had begun to decay. After this rather severe experience, I 

 never rested until the results of my day's collecting had been put 

 in order, and out of the reach of these interesting, but obnoxious 

 insects. 



