ORDER PSITTACI. 



PARROTS, PAROQUETS, ETC. 



Family PSITTACID^. Parrots and 

 Paroquets. 



A very large family numbering some 360 species, the majority 

 being distributed throughout the tropical parts of the world. But 

 one species properly belongs in the United States, the Carolina 

 Paroquet. This beautiful bird was at one time abundant throughout 

 southeastern North America, but has now disappeared except in 

 a few localities in Florida and the Indian Territory. 



Genus CONUROPSIS Salvador!. 

 184. Conuropsis carolinensis (LINN.). 

 CAROLINA PAROQUET. 



Conurus carolinensis (Linn.), A. O. U. Check List, 1895, p. 152. 



Distr.: Formerly southeastern United States, as far west as 

 Texas and Colorado and north to New York; now occurs only regu- 

 larly in parts of Florida and Indian Territory, although stragglers 

 are. occasionally taken in southern Missouri and Kansas; apparently 

 fast becoming extinct. 



Adult: Forehead and cheeks, deep reddish orange, rest of head 

 and neck, yellow; bend of wing and tibia, yellow, tinged with 'orange; 

 rest of plumage, green; lighter green on under parts; outer webs of 

 primaries, green, yellowish at bases; inner webs, dark brown; upper 

 surface of tail feathers, green, with brown shafts. 



Immature birds have the orange on the face and forehead the 

 same, but the rest of the head is green, instead of yellow, and there is 

 no yellow or orange on the bend of the wing or tibia. 



Length, about 12; wing, 7.30; tail, 6.40; bill (straight line), .87; 

 tarsus, .65. 



During the early part of the last century, Paroquets were not 

 uncommon in Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Wilson found them 

 abundant in the neighborhood of the Ohio River and lower Mississippi, 

 and Audubon, in 1831 (Ornithological Biography, p. 138) writes: 



501 



