184 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



inner webs of flights below grass-green ; tail below 

 bluish green towards terminal extremity, red towards 

 base ; beak pale horn-yellow ; feet pale brown ; irides 

 brown. Female slightly smaller, with smaller, shorter, 

 and more arched beak, with shorter terminal hook. 

 Hab., " Southern Mexico and Central America, as far 

 ae Costa, Rica." (Salvador!.) 



I have found no field-notes relating to this species. 

 Russ says it is rare, the price for single examples being 

 20 to 30 marks in the German market. It first arrived 

 at the London Zoological Gardens in 1862, and a second 

 example was purchased five years later. 



BRONZE-WINGED PARROT (Pionus chalcopterus). 



Blackish-blue ; back and scapulars dark green, 

 brownish in the middle and indistinctly edged with 

 blue ; lower back and rump deep blue ; upper tail- 

 coverts brownish-green edged with blue ; upper wing- 

 coverts copper-brown ; outermost greater coverts blue 

 edged with brown ; bastard wing, primary coverts, and 

 flights purplish-blue ; inner secondaries edged with 

 brown ; tail blue ; head and neck dark green, with dark 

 blue edges to the feathers ; under surface blue, dark 

 green at base of feathers ; feathers of chin edged with 

 white, those of throat edged with pale red ; under tail- 

 coverts vermilion, bluish along the shafts ; lesser and 

 median under wing-coverts blue ; greater coverts and 

 inner portion of inner webs of flights below verditer- 

 blue ; tail below either verditer-blue or reddish towards 

 base of inner webs of feathers ; beak horn-yellowish- 

 white ; feet and naked orbital skin reddish flesh-colour ; 

 irides brown. Female, when fully adult, with much 

 broader beak and much shorter terminal hook. Hab., 

 Colombia and Eastern Ecuador. 



Mr. Walter Goodfellow obtained two pairs of this 

 species at Santa Domingo. He says (The Ibis, 1902, 

 p. 220) : " Not common there, and met with in pairs. 

 Bill yellow-horn-coloured. Bare skin round the eyes 

 red." 



I have found no notes on the habits of the species 

 when at liberty. Russ does not mention the species 

 in his Handbook. The London Zoological Society pur- 

 chased a pair in June, 1883. 



DUSKY PARROT (Pionus fuscus). 



Above dark brown, the edges of the feathers 

 paler ; bastard wing, primary coverts, and flights 

 purplish-blue ; tail purplish-blue, with the inner webs 

 of the lateral feathers red excepting at the tips ; head 

 dark blue ; lores with a red tinge ; ear-coverts black ; 

 a whitish collar on throat and sides of neck ; feathers 

 of chin with reddish edges ; under surface brown, the 

 feathers with purplish-red edges ; under tail-coverts 

 purplish-red ; lesser and median under wing-coverts 

 purplish-blue ; greater under-coverts bright purplish- 

 blue ; flights below black, their inner webs internally 

 bright purplish-blue ; beak greyish-black, yellowish 

 towards base of upper mandible ; feet greyish-black ; 

 irides brownish-black. Female smaller, with smaller 

 and broader beak, with shorter terminal hook. Hab., 

 " Guiana and Lower Amazons as far up as Rio Negro 

 and Borba " (Salvador!). 



Burmeister never met with this species, and there- 

 fore gives no account of its wild life ; nor have I come 

 across any notes relating to it. Russ speaks of it as 

 " Very rare " and mentions no price. It reached the 

 London Zoological Gardens in 1869 and 1875, and in 

 1884 a specimen was acquired by exchange. 



Of the Caiques, which have to be considered next, 

 I have had no personal experience; but, judging from 



the writings of those who have kept them, I should 

 suggest canary, oats and hemp, with plenty of ripe 

 fruit and plain biscuit occasionally, as most suitable 

 food for them in captivity ; at the same time it is quite 

 likely that they might do well upon the same food as 

 the Amazons, from which they differ chiefly in details 

 of plumage. Deroptyus is characterised by its rather 

 long tail, rather short beak, and broad, long, erectile 

 feathers on the hind neck, but some of the true Amazons 

 can partly erect the feathers of the hind neck and 

 length of beak is a very variable character as well as 

 usually a sexual one. 



HAWK-HEADED CAIQUE (Deroptyus acclpitrinus). 



The prevailing colour of the upper parts in the adult 

 male is deep grass-green ; the head is brown, with the 

 forehead and lores darker, the crest grey, and the 

 sides of the head with greyish shaft-streaks ; the ruff 

 or long feathers of the nape, the breast, and 

 abdomen deep red, each feather bordered with blue ; 

 the bastard wing, the primaries and their coverts 

 black ; the secondaries green, with blue-black tips ; tail 

 feathers green, with the tips increasingly blue from the 

 middle outwards ; wings and tail below mostly black, 

 but the lateral tail feathers spotted with red at the 

 base of the inner webs ; beak chiefly blackish ; feet 

 blackish ; iris brown to dazzling yellow, the difference 

 being possibly sexual. Female probably without red 

 spots on the lateral tail feathers, undoubtedly smaller 

 than the male, and with a lighter construction of beak. 

 Hab., Guiana, Amazons to Ecuador and Maranham 

 (N.E. Brazil). 



Salvador! speaks of the beak as dusky horn colour, 

 and Burmeister calls it brownish-horn-grey with paler 

 tip, but I have followed Russ. According to Schom- 

 burgk it is less abundant than the typical Parrots. _ It 

 lives chiefly in pairs, more rarely in little companies, 

 affects the 'lower woods in the vicinity of settlements, 

 is confiding, easily tamable, but delicate and unteach- 

 able. Its cry sounds like hia-hia (the English equiva- 

 lent would be hea-hea) ; it, moreover, nests in tree- 

 holes, and lays more than two eggs, occasionally four. 

 When excited it erects its beautiful nape feathers in 

 a broad half-circle. 



Dr. Russ regarded this as far and away one of the 

 most beautiful and interesting of Parrots, but he noted 

 it as rarely and only singly imported. His verdict does 

 not quite correspond with that of Schomburgk : 

 " Vigorous and long-lived, easily tamed, subsequently 

 lovable and confiding, wise and intelligent, quiet, 

 peaceable, gentle, and thoughtful ; whistles loudly and 

 not unpleasantly ; learns to repeat certain words ; 

 screams at times, for the most part only for pleasure, 

 piercingly and shrilly, then expands its collar ; it, how- 

 ever, settles down quietly at once when spoken to." 



The late Dr. Greene, in his " Parrots ki Captivity," 

 gives a long account of two specimens which had been 

 in his possession. One of them he considered almost aL 

 talented as a Grey Parrot. 



The Hon. and Rev. F. G. Dutton considers the bird 

 somewhat treacherous and inclined to bite. In 

 captivity it may have hemp, oats, dari, canary, plain 

 biscuit and fruit. 



The Zoological Society of London has, at various 

 times, possessed a good many examples of this bird. 

 Their first specimen was presented in 1856, and the 

 last recorded in the ninth edition of the "List " was 

 deposited in 1894. 



