PARROT. 



397 



not nearly so strong 1 nor so much hooked ; and the 

 head is not so thick and firm, because the muscles 

 that work the jaws are not so large. This species 

 has been called the Guiana parrot ; but this appel- 

 lation is an incorrect one, inasmuch as it is found 

 pretty generally distributed over the wanner parts of 

 the American continent, and reaches farther to the 

 south than most, or perhaps than any of the maocaws. 

 It is but a small bird, being only twelve inches in 

 total length, of which the tail occupies a full half; the 

 upper mandible and naked space round the eye are 

 yellowish white ; the lower mandible is <rrey ; the head 

 as far as over the eyes light blue, the feathers bearing 

 some resemblance to hairs. The whole of the upper 

 part and under part are tolerably bright given, with 

 the exception of the turn of the wing, the under wing- 

 coverts, and the under side of the tail-feathers, where 

 the wings are bright vermilion-red, and the tail yel- 

 low with a slight tinge of green. It is understood 

 that this species lives on the kernels of hard fruits, 

 which it is very dexterous in breaking, though its bill 

 is upon the whole less powerful in proportion to its 

 size than the bills of the maccaws. Those who 

 are fond of tracing gradations from one race of 

 animals to another, are generally disposed to class 

 this bird as something intermediate between the 

 maccaws and the American parrots properly so called ; 

 but its bill and feet are differently constructed from 

 those of the true parrots; and its air and expression, 

 and also its docility, are totally different ; while, on 

 the other hand, its size is smaller, and its general 

 shape more elegant. So far as is known of its man- 

 ners it agrees with its expression, for it is a wild and 

 clamourous bird in its native haunts, and not capable 

 of articulating or of affording any sort of amusement 

 in a state of captivity. 



Pfttagonian RIaccaw- Parrot (P. Patagonus). This is 

 the least tropical of the whole of the parrot race, being 

 found in that country after which it is named, even 

 down to its southern extremity. It is olive-brown on 

 the upper part with exception of the rump, which is 

 yellow; the forehead is blackish, the head brown, the 

 cheeks and wing-coverts olive ; the rump, the upper 

 tail-coverts, the sides of the belly, and the vent-fea- 

 thers yellow ; the quills brown with purple reflections; 

 the tail-feathers olivebrown, the breast brownish mot- 

 tled with black : the middle of the belly reddish, and the 

 bill and feet ash-colour ; its length is eighteen inches. 

 It will be seen from the description of the colours, 

 that this parrot, which inhabits a colder latitude 

 than the rest, though still a latitude which is tro- 

 pical in its vegetation, has its colours much more 

 broken than those species which live near the 

 equator ; and this is part of the character of a bird of 

 temperate clima'cs. In noticing the remaining 

 :ies, which we shall do as briefly as possible, we 

 shall omit the term rnaccavv for the sake of brevity, 

 though it is of course to be understood that all those 

 which have the cheeks more or less naked partake 

 a little of the maccaw character. The greater number 

 of the American ones which remain to be noticed are 

 small birds in comparison. 



Golden-crested Parakeet (P. auricapillus). This 

 is a Brazilian species, and one of the largest 

 of the long-tailed ones, being about ten inches in 

 length. The general plumaue is green, the forehead 

 red, and the top of the head yellow ; the quills are 

 blue on their external surfaces, and so are the prin- 

 cipal coverts ; but the under sides of the wings are 



purple-red ; the tail-feathers are greenish yellow at 

 their bases, and blue in the greater part of their 

 length ; the throat and breast are yellowish mottled 

 with purple ; and the belly, the vent-feathers, and 

 the rump are purple ; the bill and feet are ash- 

 colour. 



The scaly Parakeet (P. squamosits], is another Bra- 

 zilian species, smaller than the last-mentioned, being 

 only eight inches in length. It is green on the upper 

 part, with blue reflections on the quills of the wings, 

 and with the under sides yellow ; but the under co- 

 verts of the wing, and also the bastard wing are red ; 

 the rump and belly, and also half-collar on the neck 

 are bluish, with orange margins to the feathers, which 

 makes them appear distinct from each other, as if 

 they were scales whence the name ; but the name 

 is an inaccurate one, inasmuch as the feathers have 

 nothing of a scaly character. 



Party-coloured Parakeet (P. versicolor\ This spe- 

 cies is described as being found in the forests of 

 Guiana. It is about nine inches in length, and gets 

 its name from the varied colours of the throat ; the 

 head is brown, the upper part green ; the forehead and 

 collar blue ; the primary quills blue externally, with 

 green reflections, and the bastard wing red ; the ear- 

 coverts are grey ; the neck, throat, and breast are 

 variable brown, with the margins of the feathers 

 lighter; the rump and tail-feathers are purple-brown, 

 the flanks green, and the bill and feet blackish. 



There are several other species of parakeets in South 

 America with the cheeks more or less naked, and the 

 tails, generally speaking, broad and spreading for 

 about half their length, and wedge-shaped for the other 

 half. The feathers being, generally speaking, twelve 

 in number, the middle ones always the longest and of 

 equal length with each other, and the point of each 

 feather standing separate from each other when the 

 tail is spread. The tail with which we are familiar iu 

 Europe, bearing the most resemblance to this, is that 

 of the magpies ; and though these birds are very dif- 

 ferent in their habits, and also in their food, from the 

 magpies, and are zygodactylic, whereas the m;>: 

 are not, they resemble each other in many of their 

 attitudes and also in their styles of flight. Being 

 smaller birds than the maccaws, and more habitually 

 on the wing, they are found in more open places ; in 

 consequence of this they are more destructive to plan- 

 tations than some of the larger ones are. In tropical 

 America they arc of course tree birds, but some of 

 them frequent districts in which trees are few, and 

 they nestle in the holes of rocks. This is the case 

 with the Patagonian species, which is a hardy bird, 

 and inhabits the mountains to a considerable elevation. 

 The flocks of them are sometimes immense ; and, as 

 at the time when they flock they are very bold and 

 daring, the inhabitants slaughter them in great num- 

 bers as plunderers of their gardens and fields. It is 

 unnecessarv to enter at length into the details of 

 the species, because it would be little else than a 

 repetition of mere colours. There is, however, one 

 species which it would be injustice to pass over with- 

 out notice, because it is the only one which is found 

 in the temperate latitudes of the northern hemisphere. 

 This species is, 



The Carolina Parakeet (P. Carolinentis). The 

 name Carolina is very improperly applied to this 

 bird, because, even when it was most plentiful in 

 North America, Carolina was not the chief place of 

 its residence. On the Atlantic shores, according to 



