CONURES. 



159 



CACTUS CONTJRE (Conurus cactorum). 



Count Salvador! thus describes this species : " Adult 

 male. Upper parts green, pileum pale brown, lighter 

 on the edges of the feathers and blending on the nape 

 in the green colour of the back ; lores, cheeks, throat, 

 eides of the neck, and upper breast pale brown ; a 

 yellow line below the eyes, edging the upper ear- 

 coverts ; ear-coverts green ; lower breast and abdomen 

 dull orange ; Hanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts 

 yellowish green ; bastard wing -and primary coverts 

 green, -with a slight bluish tinge, especially on the inner 

 webs ; primaries bluish-green, greener towards the bases 

 of the outer webs ; secondaries greenish blue ; all the 

 quills tipped with blackish ; carpal edge yellowish in 

 the middle ; smaller under wing-coverts yellow-green, 

 the greater ones and quills below blackish grey ; tail 

 above green, with the four central feathers blue towards 

 the tips, below golden-olive, with the outer webs 

 dusky ; upper mandible whitish, under mandible horn- 

 brown ; feet, pale horn-brown ; iris orange." Russ 

 says, " Beak clear whitish horn-grey, the cere white ; 

 eyes yellowish grey to orange-yellow, with naked 

 whitish grey ring; feet, deep flesh-coloured." Bur- 

 meister says the " beak ie dull whitish horn-grey, darker 

 towards the base, the iriis narrowly bordered with 

 orange, the naked orbital ring grey ; the legs flesh-red 

 suffused with deep grey." 



The female is decidedly smaller, and has a shorter 

 beak. Hab., South-Eastern Brazil. 



In its wild state this Parrot is met with in open 

 pastures feeding upon the fruits of Cactus, whence it 

 has derived its name ; when flying from one place to 

 another its piercing cry is heard continually, but when 

 feeding it is perfectly mute. 



This is a freely imported species ; and, in spite of its 

 terrible voice, is a general favourite with Parrot-lovers : 

 both the late Mr. O. E. Cresswell and Miss Alderson 

 have written pleasantly about their examples of this 

 bird in the pages of The Avicultural Magazine. Of 

 his pair Mr. Creeswell wrote : " They don't talk, but 

 are always merry and bright, and seem to have a great 

 capacity for enjoying life." I believe that Russ' state- 

 ment that "hitherto they have not been bred " still 

 holds good of the Cactus Conure, unless perhaps the 

 fact has been unrecorded. If the London price for the 

 species is anything like so reasonable as that mentioned 

 by Russ, " eight to twelve shillings a pair," it may have 

 been bred half a dozen times by amateurs, who'might 

 have had no interest in publishing the fact. 



The London Zoological Society purchased its first 

 specimen of this bird in 1862, and has added remark-, 

 ably few examples since that date. 



BROWN-THROATED CONURE (Conurus ceruginosits). 



Above green with a slight blue tinge on the crown ; 

 bastard wing and primary-coyerts bluish towards tips ; 

 flights blue, green towards base of outer webs ; tail 

 above green, bluish at tips of central feathers ; fore- 

 head, front of lores, cheeks, ear-coverts, and throat 

 buffish-drab; naked orbital skin (broad below the eye) 

 orange-yellow ; breast, abdomen, smaller under wing- 

 coverts 'and Hinder tail-coverts yellowish -green ; an 

 orange patch at middle of abdomen ; greater under 

 wing-coverts and flights below blackish ; tail below 

 golden-olive ; beak hornnbrown ; feet brown ; irides 

 probably orange. Female differs in having a longer and 

 more slender beak than the male, thus reversing the 

 usual rule. Hab., Guiana, Venezuela, and Rio Negro. 



In its wild life this Conure appears to agree very 

 closely with the preceding species. Mr. P. R. Lowe, 



writing on the " Birds of Margarita Island, Venezuela, " 

 (The Ibis, 1907, p; 557), says : "This is a common bird 

 in Margarita. It frequents the low-lying coast-belt, as 

 well as the hills. Large flocks used to fly over regu- 

 larly in the evening from the tall mangrove-trees lining 

 the large lagoon at the west end of the island, making 

 their wav towards the foot-hills, where apparently they 

 roosted.'" 



A frequently imported species, but I should imagine 

 hardly a favourite to judge by the number presented to 

 or deposited at the London Zoological Gardens since 

 1866 ; it would have been a work of supererogation for 

 the Society to purchase the species. 



ST. THOMAS' CONURE (Conurus yiertinax). 



Back of head, nape, and rest of upper surface green ; 

 bastard-wing and primary-coverte bluish towards the 

 tips ; flights blue, edged with black at tip, the outer 

 webs green towards base ; four central tail-feathers 

 bluish towards the tip; (forehead, sides of head and 

 chin yellowish-orange ; crown slightly bluish ; throat 

 and front of breast olive ; back of breast and abdomen 

 yellowish-green, the middle of the latter orange ; 

 smaller under wing-coverts yellowish-green, greater 

 coverts blackish, slightly edged with yellowish ; flights 

 bellow blackish; tail below golden-olive ; beak horn- 

 brown ; feet dusky. Female apparently with the beak 

 broader and shorter. Hab., St. Thomas, St. Croix, and 



According to Dr. Hartert (The. lUs, 1893, p. 320) 

 these birds " are no longer caught for sale, while for- 

 merly they were brought to the steamers by the 

 negroes. On CuraQao it is very numerous in the 

 western parts of the island, but not so common, 

 although by no means rare, in the eastern. The nests 

 are mostly built in large ants' nests placed in trees, 

 into which they dig holes. The negroes take the young 

 ones from the nests and keep them in cages. Large 

 numbers are sold to the sailors." 



Although, in his " Handbook," Dr. Russ only men- 

 tions the name of this species, not even describing it, 

 the Zoological Society of London purchased two speci- 

 mens in 1865, and has exhibited a fair number in the 

 Regent's Park Gardens since that date. The late Mr. 

 0. E. Cresswell described a specimen in his possession 

 in The Avicultural Magazine, First Series. Vol. IV., 

 p. 176, and it is safe to conclude that other avicul- 

 turists have, from time to time, owned specimens. 



GOLDEN-CROWNED CONURE (Conurus aureus). 



The prevailing colour is grass-green, the forehead 

 and crown, as well as a circle round the eye, orange-yellow 

 or red, vertex and lores dull blue, back of head and 

 ear-coverts washed with bluish ; flights black with a 

 blue spot at the tips, below olivaceous dusky at the 

 tips ; the tail-feathers blackish-grey below ; cheeks and 

 throat olive, slightly washed with bluish, remainder 

 of under surface orange-yellow in the centre, greenish 

 at the sides ; beak black ; feet blackish-brown ; iris 

 varying from grey to orange- yellow, or even to chestnut. 

 Female with shorter and broader beak. Hab., Guiana, 

 the Valley of the Amazons, Bolivia, Brazil, and 

 Paraguay. 



I have not discovered anv account of the wild life of 

 this species (though Russ says it is destructive to the 

 rice-crops), but it has been bred in captivity, Mr. J. 

 Wenzel, of Danzig, having bred it in 1880 in a large 

 cage, where it was associated with Red-rumps and 

 Cactus Conures. The sitting of two eggs was produced 

 in April, and both parents incubated them; incubation 

 lasting twenty-six days. The young left the nest after 

 fifty days, and resembled their parents excepting that 



