42 PSITTACID^E. 



of noises, the Parrot-house in the Zoological Gardens of London. They 

 are extremely social, so much so that their flocks do not break up in 

 the breeding-season ; and their burrows, which they excavate in a 

 perpendicular cliff or high bank, are placed close together ; so that 

 when the gauchos take the young birds esteemed a great delicacy 

 the person who ventures down by means of a rope attached to his waist 

 is able to rifle a whole colony. The burrow is three to five feet deep, 

 and four white eggs are deposited on a slight nest at the extremity. I 

 have only tasted the old birds, and found their flesh very bitter, scarcely 

 palatable. 



The natives say that this species cannot be taught to speak ; and it is 

 certain that the few individuals I have seen tame were unable to 

 articulate. 



Doubtless these Parrots were originally stray colonists from the 

 tropics, although now resident in so cold a country as Patagonia. When 

 viewed closely, one would also imagine that they must at one time have 

 been brilliant-plumaged birds ; but either natural selection, or the direct 

 effect of a bleak climate, has given a sombre shade to their colours 

 green, blue, yellow, and crimson ; and when seen flying at a distance, or 

 in cloudy weather, they look as dark as crows. 



277. CONURUS ACUTICAUDATUS (Vieill.). 

 (SHARP-TAILED PARROT.) 



Conurus acuticaudatus, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl p. Ill ; White, P. Z. S. 1882, 

 p. 621 (Catamarca). Conurus fugax, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 441. 

 Conurus glaucifrons, Leybold, Leopoldina, Heft viii. p. 52 (1873). 



Description. Above and beneath green ; top of head and cheeks bluish ; 

 inner margins of wing-feathers yellowish grey ; inner webs of tail-feathers at 

 their bases red ; upper mandible pale whitish, lower black : whole length 13-0 

 inches, wing 7'5, tail 7'0. Female similar. 



Hab. Bolivia, Paraguay, and N. Argentina. 



White obtained specimens of this Parrot near Andalgala in Catamarca 

 in September 1880. He tells us that it is not very abundant in that 

 district, and flies very swiftly in flocks of seven or eight, screeching 

 continually when on the wing. 



