AMAZONS. 



181 



to a higher level the instant they caught sight of a 

 man." 



Rues says that this bird is rare and litfle admired ; 

 he prices it at 18 to 20 marks. The first example 

 exhibited at the Regent's Park Gardens -was presented 

 in 1862 ; a second was purchased in 1875, and others 

 have since been acquired, the last recorded, in the 

 ninth edition of the "List," in 1895. 



WHITE-FRONTED AMAZON (Chrysotis leucocephala). 



The adult male is green with black margins to the 

 feathers; the crown, lores, and margin of eye white; 

 top of crown tinged with rose-red ; the cheeks and 

 throat rose-red ; ear-coverts black ; bastard wing, 

 primary coverts and outer webs of quills blue ; tail 

 with the inner webs of the lateral feathers red at the 

 base and yellowish towards the tip, outer feather with 

 blue outer web ; abdomen dull red, with green edges 

 to the feathers, greater under wing- coverts and inner 

 webs of quills below blue ; beak and cere whitish ; feet 

 flesh-coloured ; iris brownish yellow. 



The female, according to Russ, differs in having the 

 red throat patch extended to the chest, and the lower 

 breast purple violet ; what I take to be the female is 

 smaller, with the crown creamy-white without a trace 

 of rose-red, the beak much smaller and weaker. Hab., 

 Cuba. 



Count Salvador! regarded the examples with rose- 

 red on the front of the crown as varieties, but an 

 examination of all the skins in the British Museum 

 series convinced me that this character occurred in all 

 the sexed males in the collection, so that I have little 

 doubt that the absence of rose-colour from the sinciput 

 is a characteristic feature of the female. 



According to Gundlach, this Amazon is very destruc- 

 tive in gardens and orchards, and especially in the 

 case of the cocoa palm, of which it devours the central 

 shoot, and so naturally destroys the tree ; it is there- 

 fore not surprising that, as Russ observes, this bird 

 is hunted as game, and he adds : " Only young birds 

 taken from the nests, hand reared, and tamed, are 

 brought over amongst us. Not rare ; in recent years, 

 for instance, imported through Reiche and Ruhe of 

 Alf eld ; are also freely purchased in New York. In 

 its native country is accounted clever and gifted with 

 speech, and is so described by many aviculturists 

 amongst ourselves. According to P. Hieronymus a 

 male of this species went to nest at Karlsruhe in 1885 

 with a female of the Red-shouldered Amazon (Blue- 

 fronted). From four eggs three young hatched, of 

 which only one grew up. In the summer of 1885 that 

 pair went to nest again, and Mr. Hieronymus got a 

 female of a Noble Parrot (Eclectus) to incubate one 

 egg and rear the young one." 



The late Dr. Greene gives a long account of this 

 species in his "Parrots in Captivity," Vol. III., pp. 

 101-106, with a few notes on its habits by the Hon. 

 and Rev. Canon Button, who, in opposition to Bechstein, 

 Creutz, etc., observes : " The small Amazons are not, 

 according to my experience, good talkers; and the 

 White-headed is not even good amongst the small 

 Amazons. ' ' 



The first two specimens to reach the London Zoo- 

 logical Gardens were received in exchange in 1868 ; 

 ten years later a third was purchased, and since that 

 date a good many others have been acquired. Russ 

 prices this bird at from 20 to 30 marks for a specimen, 

 but Canon Button says: "Unless the specimen be 

 clever, 1 is ample at any time. They might be bought 

 much cheaper." 



BAHAMA AMAZON (Chrysotis bahamensis). 



Biffers from C. leucocephala in its slightly larger 

 size, brighter colouring, the abdomen usually entirely 

 green, rarely showing a few scattered red feathers ; the 

 tail also showing red only on the two outer feathers. 

 The female, so far as I could judge, seems to have a 

 broader skull and shorter, broader beak than the male. 

 Hab., Bahamas. 



Under the name of C. leucocephala, Mr. J. L. 

 Bonhote (The Ibis, 1903, p. 295) siays of this species : 

 ' ' I brought home several specimens of this bird alive. 

 They are now becoming very scarce, and are exter- 

 minated in most of their former haunts viz., Abaco 

 and Long Island. A few may possibly still be found 

 on Inagua, but I only know of their existence posi- 

 tively on an island the name of which I think it 

 inadvisable to divulge." 



In The AvicuUural Magazine for June, 1904, Mr. 

 Bonhote gives an interesting account of the species 

 under its proper name ; the article is illustrated by an 

 excellent coloured plate, which shows the tasteful 

 colouring of this most beautiful of the Amazon Parrots 

 to perfection. 



Mr. Bonhote says : " The Bahama Amazon seems to 

 have a great disinclination for flying, and even when in 

 an aviary with full use of its wings it always prefers 

 climbing." 



While in the West Indies, Mr. Bonhote's birds had 

 the run of the garden, and only came indoors at meal- 

 time to receive their food bread, potato, or banana. 

 He says : "This was their only food, and on it they 

 seemed to thrive. When spring came round, and the 

 sapodillas began to open, they betook themselves to the 

 sapodilla tree and wrought untold havoc amongst the 

 fruit, throwing down what they had no use for." He 

 adds: "They are very noisy, especially during the 

 summer, sunrise and sunset being their most noisy 

 periods, but unfortunately they are not over particular, 

 and may be heard within a quarter of a mile radius 

 during any of the hours of daylight." 



I had 'the pleasure of seeing Mr. Bonhote's pair of 

 this charming species in their English aviary, but was 

 not close enough to be absolutely certain of their 

 sexual characters. They nested in 1909, laid three 

 eggs, and hatched one chick, but it unhappily died. 

 I do not know of any other specimens having been im- 

 ported. 



RED-THROATED AMAZON (Chrysotis collaria). 



Green ; the feathers on back of head and nape edged 

 with black; feathers of the neck dull reddish with 

 black edges and subterminal green band ; bastard wing, 

 primary coverts, and outer webs of flights blue, the 

 secondaries with green edges ; upper tail-coverts 

 yellowish-green ; tail with yellowish-green extremity, 

 the lateral feathers red on the basal half and yellow on 

 the terminal half of the inner web, outer feathers blue 

 on the outer web ; forehead white ; top of head washed 

 with blue; cheeks and throat dull reddish; a white 

 line bordering the cheeks below the eyes ; the upper 

 part of cheeks washed with bluish-green and all the 

 feathers with green edges ; under tail-coverts yellowish- 

 green ; under wing-coverts and inner webs of flights 

 below green ; beak and cere whitish ; feet flesh-coloured 

 or ochraceous. Hab., Jamaica. 



Gosse calls this the "Yellow-billed Parrot." Com- 

 paring it with C. aailis and another Parrot, he says 

 (" Birds of Jamaica," p. 269) : " The Yellow-bill is less 

 common than either of the two preceding, but its habits 

 are the same. The same fruits supply it with food, 

 but, in addition, it divides the oranges to procure the 



