CONURES. 



157 



YELLOW-HEADED CONURE (Conurus jenduya}. 



This is a very showy Parrot, its head being bright 

 yellow, suffused "with orange-red on the iorehea<J,,rour.a 

 the naked eye-ring, 011 tne throat, breast, beily, and 

 the margins of tne leathers 01 tiie lower back and 

 rump; tne bastard-wing, primary -co verts, outer webs 

 oi pnniaries, excepting towards the base, outer tail- 

 feather and tips of all the others above, blue ; inner 

 webs and under surface of quills, greater under wmg- 

 coverts, and under surface of tail, blackish ; remainder 

 of plumage green ; beak black ; feet blackish, with 

 black claws; iris varying from pearl-grey to brown. 

 Female probably with shorter and narrower beak than 

 the male. Hab., Eastern Brazil. 



This bird is said to visit the maize crops in small 

 flocks consisting of from eight to twenty individuals, 

 and to do much mischief ; its cry is loud and startling, 

 and it is very destructive to wood ; nevertheless it has 

 a very good character as a cage and aviary bird, being 

 peaceable, affectionate, and harmless -when associated 

 with smaller birds. 



Dr. Russ says : " A pair belonging to me took posses- 

 sion of a nest-box ; the male and female were very tender 

 to each other, carried out the whole business naturally, 

 even sat together on the laying of four eggs. If anyone 

 approached the cage they sought to scare the invader 

 with bristling feathers and puffed out neck ruffles, with 

 stooping and other wonderful gestures. Looking sub- 

 sequently I found seven hatched dried-up young. They 

 have laid eggs with several other 'breeders, but hitherto 

 have not been successfully reared." 



However, Mr. Seth-Smith (" Parrakeets," p. 34) quotes 

 an account of the successful breeding of the species 

 recorded in " Notes on Cage Birds," Second Series, 

 p 173, by a writer who signs himself " Blue Robin." 

 Oddly enough, as in the case of the Yellow Conures 

 described ^above, the young appear to have remained 

 in the nes't (from the commencement of the incubation 

 of the eggs) about three months. It seems a long 

 time, but with, two independent witnesses there can be 

 no question of its correctness. Four specimens of this 

 pretty Conure reached the London Gardens in 1869, and 

 altogether a fair number have been since acquired. 



GOLDEN-HEADED CONURE (Conurus auricapillus) . 



Differs from the preceding, but with the front of the 

 crown yellow ; the 'back of crown and hind neck green ; 

 the sides of head grean, more or less washed with 

 yellow ; a reddish tinge round the naked orbital region 

 and on the ear-ccverts ; throat and front of breast 

 green, back of breast and abdomen red, with the base 

 of the feathers more or less green. Female with shorter 

 and narrower beak, lees desp when viewed in profile. 

 Hab., Eastern Brazil. 



I have found no notes respecting the wild life of 

 this species. It is very rarely imported, and is not 

 mentioned in Rus.s' " Handbook " ; it has, however, been 

 exhibited at cur London Zoological Gardens more than 

 once. 



BLACK-HEADED CONTTRE (Conurus nenday). 



Dr. Russ thus describes it : " An extraordinarily 

 coloured Parrot ; grass-green, on the underside yellowish- 

 green ; forehead, crown and front of cheeks deep 

 brownish-black ; back of head, dark chestnut-brown ; 

 ec-ir-coverts, lower back and rump yellowish-green ; 

 flights and tail-feathers marked with blue; throat and 

 upper breast greyish blue-green ; thighs scarlet-red ; 

 beak blackish horn-grey ; eyes red to black-brown ; feet 

 brownish horn-grey ; claws blackish." Female with a 



narrower beak, not so deep when seen in profile. Hab., 

 Paraguay and Argentina. 



Mr. J. Graham Kerr (The Ibis, 1892, p. 140) says: 

 " Abundant, in very large Hocks, about the neighbour- 

 hood of Fortin Page. Frequently associates witn flocks, 

 of Bolborhynchus monachus. One of the favourite foods 

 of these species consists of the berries of the parasitic. 

 Loranthacece, which are so common on some of the 

 trees." 



In a subsequent paper, on the Birds observed in tha 

 Gran Chaco, the same author (The Ibis, 1901, p. 229) 

 says: "Very common in large flocks." It is therefore 

 not surprising that, although regarded as a great rarity 

 when first purchased by the London Zoological Society 

 in May, 1870, it is now a very freely imported species. 

 Russ says of it : " Since 1870 occasionally imported 

 singly; in 1878, for the first time, in several pairs by 

 Charles Jamrach, of London ; after that it made its, 

 appearance from time to time in bird-rooms. Behaviour 

 comical ; cry penetrating, loud, hardly so shrill as that 

 of the Carolina Parrot; sexes very affectionate. Bred 

 in 1881 by Baron von Comely. Unhappily no further 

 details communicated. Price 20 to 30 marks for the, 

 pair." 



Mr. Seth-Smith (" Parrakeets," pp. 36 and 37) quotes 

 two accounts cf the breeding of this species in England,, 

 one from " Notes on Cage Birds," the other from The 

 Avicultural Magazine." Yet he tells us that " It is not: 

 a popular species with aviculturists." In the trade 

 this Conure is generally known as the Nenday or 

 Nanday Parrakeet. 



RED-HEADED CONTJRE (Conurus rubrolarvatus}. 



Bright green, slightly paler on underparts ; the whole 

 front of the head to well behind the eyes and including 

 the chin, also the bend and front edge of the wing, 

 lesser and median under wing-coverts and thighs, scar- 

 let ; greater under wing-coverts, flights and tail below 

 olive, the former dusky at tips and on outer webs ;, 

 beak yellowish-white ; naked orbital ring pale yellow ;: 

 irides yellow. Female probably with a narrower beak 

 than the male. Hab., Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. 



Stolzmann says (Taczanowski's " Ornithologie du 

 Perou," Vol. III., p. 198) : " Very common on the coast,. 

 whence it disappears in March and April." 



In The Avicultural Magazine, First Series, Vol. VI., 

 p. 69, Mr. Walter Goodfellow says : " These birds I 

 eaw offered for sale in Guayaquil at 5d. each, and no. 

 doubt at half that price they could have been bought. 

 Being rather large birds, they show off their colour to 

 advantage. I imagine, though, they must be rather 

 noisy birds to keep, for they have a disagreeable shriek. 

 They ought not to ,be at all delicate, for we shot speci- 

 mens near the Volcano of Parace, 'by Popayan, in 

 Colombia, at an altitude of over 8,000 ft. In passing 

 through the little village of Carmen (still in Colombia*), 

 on our ride from Buenaventura to Call, we saw the same 

 birds in immense clouds, coming from their feeding- 

 grounds in the high mountain forests, to pass the night 

 in the little sheltered valley below. Carmen could boast 

 of little else in the way of vegetation but bamboos,, 

 which grew in great thickets, and every branch of 

 theee giant grasses was literally weighing down with 

 its burden of C ' . rubrolarvatus. The noise was simply 

 deafening ! Those we shot by the acid waterfall of 

 Parace, in the month of May, 1898. were undoubtedly 

 nesting in the crevices of the perpendicular cliffs there ; 

 for on the report of our firearms numbers of them flew 

 screaming from the holes and ledges around. I noticed, 



* Probably by a printer's error it is spelt Columbia in the- 

 article. 



