164 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



edges ; upper 'breast greenish with pale greyish, borders 

 to the feathers ; a dark red patch at centre of abdomen ; 

 r uii.l.T wing-coverts and flights below blackish 

 washed with olive; tail below coppery -red, darker on 

 outer webs of feathers ; beak horn-brown; feet dusky. 

 Female dii-l.iiK.-tly smaller, with the beak narrower at 

 base, but shorter and generally fuller. Hab., Guiana 

 and Trinidad. 



Burm'eisiber says (" Systematise-he Uebersicht," Vol. 

 II., p. 176) : "It inhabits dense woods, is very nervmu-, 

 and is not tame':!." It is extremely rarely imported, b-ut 

 has been exhibited more than once in the London Zoo- 

 logical Society's Gardens ; the first specimen was pur- 

 chased in 1870. 



PEARLY COXURE (Pyrrhura perlata).* 



Green ; bend of wing- red ; bastard-wing and primary- 

 coverts blue; fii>t primary blauk, the others deep blue, 

 brighter at edge of outer webs; secondaries blue, with 

 green outer webs ; tertials wholly green ; outer upper 

 tail-coverts bluish ; tail brownish-red, washed with olive 

 at base ; a band on the forehead, a second across back 

 of neck; the cheeks, front of breast, sides, vent, and 

 under tail-coverts -bluish ; crown and nape brown ; upper 

 part of cheeks greenish ; ear-coverts brownish-grey ; 

 tin-cat and greater part of breast brown, the feathe.rs 

 with pale edges, those of the breast double-banded pale 

 brown and blackish ; a more or less defined brownish- 

 red patch at centre of abdomen ; smaller under wing- 

 coverts red ; greater ones more or less blackish -/flights 

 below blackish, slightly washed with olive; tail below 

 dark reddish-brown, redder at base of inner wets of 

 feathers ; beak horn-brown ; feet dusiky. Female prob- 

 ably differing a.s in P. leucof.is. Hab., Lower Amazon. 



Burnueister gives us no information respecting the 

 wild life of this species, nor have I been able to discover 

 anything in the works of other authors. 



The Zoological Society of London purchased two speci- 

 mens of this extremely rarely-imported Conure in 

 August, 1884. 



The species which follows is of especial interest from 

 the fact that it constructs huge nest* of sticks. As 

 will be seen by my accounts, some other Parrots make 

 more or less SIK---I s<ful attempts at building, and from 

 wli-it has been recorded by various observers respecting 

 the Carolina Conure, one must suppose that it also fre- 

 quently constructs a simple platform of twigs, upon 

 which to deposit its eggs; but the nests built by 

 M </<>psi,ttacus are elaborate domed structures formed 

 of sticks. 



GREY-BREASTED OR QUAKER PARRAKEET 



i/K/nachus). 



Upper parts varying from greyish to golden-green ; 

 the primaries blue, the under parts whitish, the breast 

 feathers being greyish with paler borders ; the beak dull 

 flesh-pink; the legs grey. Owing to its habit of con- 

 stantly ruffling up the feathers on the head this bird 

 looks stouter than it really it. Female more bulky and 

 with a much longer- and more powerful 'beak. Hab., 

 Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay. 



In the " Argentine Ornithology," Vol. II., pp. 44 

 and 45, Mr. Hudson gives a very full and interesting 

 account of the habits of this species. He says: " The 

 Common Green Parrakeet, called Cotorra or Catita in 



* I do not know whether the compiler of the Zoological 

 Society's list imagined pearly to be a translation of perlata; 

 th latter probably referred to the breadth of the bird 



the vernacular, is a well-known resident species in the 

 Argentine Republic. It is a lively, restless bird, shrill 

 voiced, and exceedingly vociferous, living and breeding 

 in large communities, and, though it cannot learn to 

 speak so distinctly as some of the larger Parrots, it 

 is impossible to observe its habits without being con- 

 vinced that it shares in the intelligence of the highly- 

 favoured order to which it belongs. 



" In Buenos Ayres it was formerly very much more 

 numerous than it is now ; but it is exceedingly tena- 

 cious of its breeding places, and there are some few 

 favoured localities where it still exists in large cold 

 in spite of the cruel persecution all birds easily killed 

 are subjected to in a country where laws relating to 

 such matters are little regarded, and where the agri- 

 cultural population is chiefly Indian. At Mr. Gibson's 

 residence near Cape San Antonio, on the Atlantic coast,, 

 there is still a large colony of these birds inhabiting the 

 Tala woods (Ccllis tala), and I take the following facts 

 from one of his papers on the ornithology of the dis- 

 trict. 



" He describes the woods as being full of their nests,, 

 with their bright-coloured, talkative denizens and their 

 noisy chatter all day long, drowning every other sound. 

 They are extremely sociable and breed in communities. 

 When a person enters the wood their subdued chatter 

 suddenly ceases, and during the ominous silence a 

 hundred pairs of black, beady eyes survey the intruder 

 from the nests and branches ; and then follow a whir^ 

 ring of wings and an outburst of screams that spr 

 the alarm through the woods. The nests are fre- 

 quented all the year, and it is rare to find a large one 

 unattended by some of the birds any time during the- 

 day. In summer and autumn they feed principally on 

 the thistle ; first the flower is cut up and pulled to 

 pieces for the sake of the green kernel, and later they 

 eat the fallen, seed on the gr..und. Their flight is 

 rapid, with quick flutters of the wings, which seem, 

 never to be raised to the level of the body. They pay 

 no regard to a Polyborus or Mttvago, but mob any 

 other bird of pirey appearing in the woods, all the- 

 Parrakeets rising in a crowd and hovering about it 

 with angry screams. 



" The nests are suspended from the extremities of the- 

 branches, to which they are firmly woven. New nests 

 consist of only two chambers, the porch and the nest 

 proper, and are inhabited by a single pair of b 

 Successive nests are added, until some of them come 

 to weigh a quarter of a ton, and contain material 

 enough to fill a large cart. Thorny twigs, firmly inter- 

 woven, form the only material, and there is no lining 

 in the breeding chamber, even in the breeding season. 

 Some old forest trees have seven or eight of these huge 

 structures suspended from the branches, while the 

 ground underneath is covered with twigs and remains of 

 fallen nests. The entrance to the chamber is generally 

 underneath, or, if at the side, is protected by an over- 

 hanging eave, to prevent the intrusion* of opossums. 

 These entrances lead into the porch or outer chamber, 

 and the latter communicates with the breeding chamber. 

 The breeding chambers are not connected with each 

 other, and each set is used by one pair of birds." 



The breeding season of this 'bird begins in November, 

 and seven or eight very thin-shelled, elongated white 

 eggs are deposited. 



From an account published in TJic AriniUural Maga- 

 zine, Second Series, Vol. I., pp. 181-2, of Quaker Para 

 keets at large in the New Forest in 1900, it seems 

 evident that my supposition expressed in " How to 

 Sex Cage-Birds," p. 116 that the female alone cuts 

 the sticks to form her marvellous nest must be- 



