AMAZONS. 



175 



emotions of rage, pleasure, fear, etc., precisely in the 

 same manner as a child would. When startled or angry 

 it would shout at the top of its voice exactly like a, boy 

 in a passion, filling tip the intervals between the shouts 

 with heart-rending sobs ; sometimes it would call in a 

 loud voice (whidh cotuld be heard half-way down the 

 road) for Lala, but Lala never came to help it. On 

 enquiry I discovered that Lala was the Parrot's render- 

 ing for Nana, an ayah who at one time had stayed with 

 a, child at my aunt's house. 



Although OUT Amazon said many things very dis- 

 tinctly, and evidently, in many cases, understood the 

 meaning of what it was saying to ome extent., it also 

 talked a lot of utterly unintelligible twaddle to itself, 

 apparently asking itself a series of nonsensical questions, 

 to each of which it answered with a grave decided swing 

 of its head " No ! " One funny little .series of questions 

 often took place when one first came down in the 

 morning : The bird would stretch out its neck, look 



YELLOW-FRONTED AMAZON (Female). 



fixedly at you, and ask " Quite well? " li Better, 

 thanks Polly." "0! much better?" "Yes, much 

 better." "Quite better?" "Yes, quite better." 

 " Quite right," and with a swing of its neck the bird 

 turned round and (began to strut (backwards and for- 

 wards. Another favourite series of sentences was gone 

 through whenever anyone came into the room dressed 

 for a walk : " Are you going out? " " Are you going in 

 the park." "There's a cat in the park!" "Good- 

 bye." 



This bird was my servant's pet. She carried it about 

 on her shoulder, and I was often afraid it would peck 

 her eyes out ; it 'bit !her one or twice, but when it died 

 in February, 1898, she was almost inconsolable. 



A good many specimens of this species have been 

 exhibited at the London Zoological Gardens, the first 

 received there being presented in 1868. 



YELLOW-BILLED AMAZON (Chrysotis panamensis). 

 Very like the preceding species, but smaller, the vertex 

 of the head tinged with glaucous-green ; the yellow of 

 the head confined to the. front, where the glaucous-green. 



is wanting ; hairy feathers round nostrils partly golden ; 

 the- thighs yellow; beak yellowish, (whitish horn-grey 

 according 'to Russ), lead-<coloured at tip. Female pro- 

 bably with shorter and broader foeak. Hab., Panama, 

 Veragua, and Colombia. 



I have obtained no information respecting the wild 

 life. Russ states that it comes into the market associ- 

 ated with the preceding species and is usually not .lis- 

 tinguished from it, doubtless it is equailly gifted. He 

 describes another (species?) under the name of Hagen- 

 beck's Amazon (Psittacus hagenbecki), which has been 

 ignored by systematiste ; it is said to differ from 

 C. ochrocephalus in its white beak with blackish tip, 

 the almost entire absence of red from the edge of the 

 wing and the tail, as well as the different marking of 

 the latter (each feather with a weak reddish spot) ; from 

 C. panamensis by its clearer green under surface, the 

 lack of the blue-green spot on the abdomen, yellow 

 thighs and superior size Haib., Unknown. If these 

 birds come home together from Colombia, where both 

 occur, is it not probable that they may interbreed there 

 and produce inter-grades in size and coloration? The 

 Zoological Society of London has, at various times, 

 owned a fair number of this species ; it would be in- 

 teresting to know whether all have been perfectly 

 typical. 



GOLDEN-NAPED AMAZON (Chrysotis auripattiata). 



The adult male is grass-igreen, rather paler below 

 than above; the nape and often part of the orown 

 yellow ; edge and bend of wing with a few red feathers ; 

 wing speculum red; primaries black, aill excepting the 

 first with the base of 'their outer webs green ; tips of 

 both primaries and secondaries shot with blue ; tail with 

 a yellowish terminal belt; lateral feathers with the 

 inner webs red ait base ; ouiter feathers edged with bine 

 at base of outer web ; beak pale horn-grey, yellowish at 

 base of upper mandible ; cere black ; feet dusky ; iris 

 orange-red to hazel. Female with narrower beak, less 

 bell-shaped when viewed from above, more arched, and 

 with shorter terminal hook. Haib., Western Central 

 Ameriaa from Guatemala to Costa Rica, and Ti'gre and 

 Ruatan Islands. 



Mr. C. F. Underwood, writing on the Birds of the 

 Volcano of Miravalles (The Ibis, 1896, pp. 445, 446) 

 says : " Very rare so high up ; in fact, I only remember 

 seeing some three or four pairs flying over the whole 

 time I was there. But, on the other hand, in Bagaces 

 these Parrots are extremely abundant, and regularly 

 make the town their headquarters ; in fact, 'the traveller 

 arriving there a little before sunset is often deafened 

 by their noise, and on his first visit is amazed at the 

 strange scene. From all sides arrive innumerable bands 

 and solitary pairs of " Loros " (the Spanish name), which 

 remain for about an hour squabbling and fighting, con- 

 stantly changing their perches before going to roost in 

 the low trees in the immediate vicinity of the houses. 

 " Supas " (Macaws) also make the town their roosting 

 quarters. At daybreak there is a repetition of the 

 noise ; they then go off to their various feeding-grounds. 



" The natives here appreciate a good talking Loro 

 as a pet as much as Europeans do. The young are 

 eagerly sought after, and the birds, when they begin 

 to talk which is generally at about a year old sell 

 for fairly good prices. This species seems to be by 

 far the most easily taught." 



According to the Hon. and Rev. Canon F. G. Dutton, 

 this bird is a marvellous talker, and he recommends it 

 very highly as a pet. It is a general favourite, but 



