iSgi.J Hasbroi'CK 0)1 the Carolina Paroquet. 373 



cril^etl. Formerly, when tlie birds were abundant in the sur- 

 rounding region, he used to find them breeding in large colonies 

 in the cypress swamps. Several of these colonies contained at 

 least a thousand birds each. They nested invariably in small 

 cypress trees, the favorite position being on a fork UL-ar the end 

 of a slender horizontal branch. Every such fork would be occu- 

 pied, and he has seen as many as forty or fifty nests in one small 

 tree. Their nests closely resembled those of the Carolina Dove, 

 being similarly composed of cypress twigs put together so loosely 

 that the eggs were often visible from the ground beneath. The 

 twio-s of the cypress seemed to be preferred to those of any other 

 kind of tree. The height at which the nests were placed varit-d 

 from five or six feet to twenty or thirty feet. Mr. Long de- 

 scribed the eo-o-s as being of a greenish white color, unspotted. 

 He did not remember the maximum number which he had 

 found in one set, but thought it was at least four or five. He 

 had often taken young birds from the nest to rear or to give to 

 his friends." It seems difticult to reconcile such testimony with 

 the statements of Audubon and Wilson, already alluded to, yet 

 it maybe that, like some of our Owls, the Paroquet nests, accord- 

 ing to circumstances, either in hollows or on branches. 



In the collection of the National Museum is a series of eight 

 eggs; the majority of them were laid in confinement, the re- 

 mainder coming from Louisiana, These are pure white in color 

 and average 37 X 35 '^im- 



"According to Barton, writing in 1790, a flock of Paroquets ap- 

 peared in January about twenty-five miles northwest of Albany, 

 New York, causing great alarm among the simple Dutch folk 

 who looked upon the advent of the birds as indicative of coming 

 evil. Audubon also states,* that about 1807 they could be pro- 

 cured "as far northeast as Lake Ontario." This is presumably 

 the most northern record for the species, and these are the only 

 instances known of its occurrence in the Empire State. New 

 Jersey and Delav/are, as before stated, are without records, but 

 in 1833 Nuttall informst us that "straggling parties have l)een 

 seen in the valley of the Juniata in Pennsylvania" ; and TurnbuU, 

 in 1869, writesj that it occurs at rare intervals in the southern 

 part of the State. 



* Birds of Am., Vol. FV, p. 309. 



t Man. Orn., 1,1832,1). 546. 



+ Birds of Eastern Pa., p. 4, 1869. 



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