182 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



pips, and even cuts the acrid cashew-nut to extract the 

 kernel, which the others will not do. 



" The present and the preceding species build in holes 

 in lofty trees : often a hollow bread-nut is chosen, and 

 often the capacious and comfortable cavity chiselled 

 out by the Woodpecker. Four eggs are usually laid: 

 and when the green feathers begin to clothe the callow 

 heads of the promising family, they are too often taken 

 by some daring youth, who, having watched the parent 

 to her hole, climbs the giddy elevation. He feeds the 

 young with ripe plantain or banana, till they approach 

 maturity, and their appetites can digest plainer food : 

 for when grown they will eat almost anything." 



Greene ("Parrots "in Captivity," Vol. III., p. 95) 

 calk time bird "Jamaica Parrot, or White-fronted 

 Amazon/' which looks as if he failed to distinguish it 

 from C. leucocephala. This, however, is not the case, 

 for he calls the latter " Cuban Parrot, or Red-throated 

 White-headed Amazon," surely a most cumbrous name! 

 I prefer to follow the London, Zoological Society's list 

 m these instances. 



This Amazon, like its close allies, is not generally 

 considered very gifted as .a talker. Greene, who seems 

 never to have' kept the bird, save 'boldly that " it is 

 best dieted on boiled maize 'and hempseed, with an 

 occasional tit-bit in the -shape of some ripe fruit, or a 

 morsel of sweet cake or biscuit, but animal food should 

 be strictly prohibited. " I fancy that a diet consisting 

 solely of two heating seeds and only fruit occasionally 

 would speedily upset this or any Amazon. 



The London Zoological Society acquired its first speci- 

 men of this 'bird in 1869, and two others reached the 

 Gardens in 1873 ; others have been added subsequently. 



ACTIVE AMAZON (Chrysotis agilis). 



Green ; the top of the head darker and bluish ; 

 feathers of neck slightly edged with black ; primary- 

 coverts red ; the primaries black, all excepting the first 

 with the outer webs, especially at base, 'blue edged with 

 green ; secondaries blue, green at base of outer webs ; 

 tail with the inner webs of lateral feathers red, the 

 outer webs of the outer feathers bluish; under-surface 

 rather paler green than above, the under tail-coverts 

 yellowish-green ; greater under wing-coverts and part 

 of inner webs of flights below verditer-green ; beak 

 greyish-black, with a pale spot at base of upper man- 

 dible ; cere blackish-grey ; feet greyish-black ; irides 

 dark brown. Female with a shorter arid 'rather -broader 

 beak, with shorter terminal hook. Hab., Jamaica. 



Goese says (" Birds of Jamaica," pp. 266-268) : " Flocks 

 varying from half-a-dozen to twenty or thirty fly 

 hither and thither over the forest, screeching as they 

 go, and all alight together on some tree covered with 

 berries. Here they feast, but with caution ; on a slight 

 alarm one screams, and the whole flock is on the wing, 

 vociferous if not musical, and brilliant if not beautiful, 

 particularly when the sun shines on their green backs 

 and crimsoned wings. They generally prefer lofty trees, 

 except when, in June, the ripe yellow plantain tempts 

 them to descend, or when the black berry shines upon 

 the pimento. Of the latter the flocks devour an immense 

 quantity, and the former they destroy by cutting' it to 

 pieces with their powerful beaks, to get at the seeds. 



" One day in January, when the pimento on the brow 

 of Bluefields 'Mountain was about ready for picking, 

 being full-sized, but yet green and' hard, I observed 

 large flocks of Black-bills and a fe;r Parroquefs flying 

 to and fro with voluble chatter, now alighting to feed 

 on the hot, aromatic berry, now flying off and wheeling 



round to the same neighbourhood again. They were not 

 at all shy, but, with unusual carelessness of our proxi- 

 mity, scarcely moved at the report of the .gun which 

 brought their companions to the ground. Of two which 

 I shot on this occasion I found the craws stuffed with 

 the cotyledons of the seed alone, the most pungently 

 aromatic part of the berry, the fleshy part having been,, 

 as I presume, shorn off by the beak and rejected. W T hen 

 alighted, as is often the case, on a dry branch, their 

 emerald hue is conspicuous and affords a fair mark for 

 the gunner; but in a tree of full foliage their colour 

 proves an excellent concealment. They seem aware of 

 this, and their sagacity prompts them frequently to 

 rely on it for security. "Often we hear their voices pro- 

 ceeding from a .certain tree, or else have marked the 

 descent of a flock upon it, but on proceeding to the 

 spot, though the eye has not wandered from it, and 

 we are therefore sure that they are there, we cannot 

 discover an individual. We go close to the tree, but 

 all is silent and still as death; we institute a careful 

 survey of eveiry part with the eye, to detect the slightest 

 motion, or the form of a bird among the leaves, 'but in 

 vain. We begin to think that they have stolen off 

 unperceived, but on throwing a stone into the tree a 

 dozen throats burst forth into cry, and as many green 

 birds rush forth upon the wing." 



The first specimen of this species exhibited at the 

 Gardens in Regent's Pa,nk wag purchased in 1873, and 

 I aim not aware that any other has been received sine 

 that date. Rvuss asserts that it has only been in evi- 

 dence at the 'London Zoological Gardens. 



SHORT-TAILED PARROT (Pachymis brachyurus). 



Green ; upper tail-coverts yellowish-green ; primaries* 

 and primary ^coverts darker green ; secondaries and 

 greater wing-coverts with yellowish-green edges ; a dark 

 red patch on front edge of smaller wing-coverts; tail 

 yellowish-green, greener on .central feathers, a red band 

 near base of lateral feathers ; under-surf ace yellowish- 

 green ; under wing-coverts greener, excepting at the 

 edges ; greater coverte and flights below verditer-green ; 

 beak dusky horn-grey ; feet brown ; irides red (" pale 

 yellow," Goodfellow). Female with longer and narrower 

 beak, with more slender terminal 'hook ; the naked 

 orbital area sometimes (if not always) much darker than 

 in the male. Hab., Upper Amazons and Ecuador. 



Dr. Emil A. Goeldi, writing about a. visit to South 

 Guyana (The lUs, 1897, p. 162), says: " The, 'bird, how- 

 ever, which most interested me was the Pachynus 

 brachyurus, a short-tailed and corpulent green Parrot, 

 of which a flight of some twenty individuals perched 

 (O'Ctober 30) on a siriuba. Unfortunately I got one 

 specimen only of this species, which is not found, as I 

 know well, after nearly three years' residence, in the 

 vicinity of Para." 



Mr. Walter Goodfellow (The Ibis, 1902, p. 219) says 

 " We only once came upon a large flock of these Parrots, 

 when they were congregating at sunset in the high trees 

 along the river banks for the night." 



These are the only field notes that I have come across. 

 The species is not mentioned in Russ' " HandBook." 

 Two examples were purchased for the London Zoologi- 

 cal Gardens in 1894. 



The genue Pionus is characterised by its red Tinder 

 tail-coverts and complete orbital ring. The species 

 should be treated in captivity in the same manner as 

 the Amazons, to which they are very closely (related. 

 Up to the present time seven species appear to have 

 been imported as cage-birds. 



