398 



PARROT. 



Wilson, it seldom occurred to the northward of Mary- 

 land, whereas in the great central valley of the Mis- 

 sissippi, it ranged as far northward as the shores of 

 Lake Michigan, which is actually on the Canadian 

 side of the water-shed. Wilson describes it as occur- 

 ring- in no scanty numbers, and as being resident [dur- 

 ing the whole year, and capable of standing the 

 severest weather. He distinctly mentions having seen 

 them near the banks of the Ohio, in the month of 

 February, " flying about like pigeons and in full cry." 

 Audubon says, that they are not so numerous in the 

 north-western states now as Wilson describes them 

 to have been in his time ; and that, though there are 

 a few in the country north of the Ohio, they do not 

 occur in numbers until the confluence of that river 

 with the Mississippi is arrived at. Some have at- 

 tempted to account for this as a fact, by the cutting 

 down of great numbers of the old and decayed trees 

 in which the birds built their nests. There are still, 

 however, a sufficient number of such trees in the 

 north-west territory for accommodating any number 

 of these parakeets ; and therefore, if the numbers 

 have fallen off, and the birds also withdrawn to more 

 southerly habitations, the cause must be sought some- 

 where else. We know that the Americans have ex- 

 terminated the wild turkeys from very many parts of 

 the United States ; but they have done so in incon- 

 siderate zeal for pot-fowling, a purpose for which the 

 parakeets of North America are certainly not the 

 very best adapted. 



If we take the average circumstances which have 

 occurred in other countries, and have influenced the 

 appearance or the disappearance of races of birds, we 

 can really see no circumstance in North America 

 which could render the north-western part of the 

 United States a less comfortable country for those 

 parakeets at the present time than it was thirty years 

 ago. The population is not certainly yet so dense 

 as to be any annoyance to them, and they cannot be 

 driven southward by the greater severity of the sea- 

 sons, for clearing and cultivation improve the climate 

 in all other parts of the world, and it would be strange 

 indeed if they produced an opposite effect in Ame- 

 rica. We have of course no disposition to question 

 the authority of Audubon, who, we dare say, repeated 

 very faithfully what was told him ; but the fact is so 

 much at variance with the physical circumstances, 

 that it would require some sort of explanation. It is 

 true that, regarding them as great plunderers of 

 orchards, the American settlers have been very zeal- 

 ous in the destruction of these birds ; and the birds, 

 like the rest of this division of the parrot family, are 

 so fearless that one may continue firing away upon 

 the flock until immense numbers of them are de- 

 stroyed, without those which remain unshot being 

 frightened away. It should seem too that the fact of 

 firing on these birds is more cruel than wise, just as 

 the fact of firing upon birds sometimes is in this 

 country. These parakeets may sometimes do a little 

 mischief in the gardens, though the produce of the 

 gardens is pretty nearly over by the time that they 

 begin to flock. Their principal resort are the fields, 

 and their favourite food is the seed of the cockle-burr 

 (Xanthium strumarittm), which is one of the greatest 

 pests that annoy cultivators, in the great western 

 valley of the United States. It is highly probable 

 that the comparative rarity of this plant on the poorer 

 soil toward the Atlantic may be one of the causes 

 why the birds do not find their way so far to the 



northward on that side of Alleghany Mountains. ( 

 the Ohio side of the mountains the bottoms are I 

 richer. The burr alluded to is a composite plai 

 producing, like the whole of that order, an immei 

 number of seeds ; and thus tending to spread its 

 over every piece of ground which man has cleared 

 timber or recovered from being a swamp. In a wi 

 country like America, human labour can but ill cc 

 tend with the progress of a plant of this descriptio 

 and the inhabitants of Canada, to the northward 

 Lake Ontario, can tell how terrible the infliction 

 where one of these composite plants comes in f 

 force to take possession of a district. According 

 Wilson's account, and he is still the best, though 11 

 the most recent authority, these parakeets appear 

 have especial charge of the cockle-burr, and tli 

 visit the fields in tens of thousands, apparently i 

 the express purpose of destroying its seeds. T 

 plant and the bird, taken in conjunction, appear thei 

 fore to be worthy of a little more philosophical atte 

 tion than they have hitherto met with. It is not 

 little remarkable that in the temperate latitudes 

 America the fields have a great tendency to be ovi 

 run by composite plants of some description or othi 

 The rich parts of the Pampas, to the south-westwa 

 of Buenos Ayres, are at some seasons of the ye 

 completely overrun with thistles; and it is not a lit 

 remarkable that the portion of North America whi 

 has the greatest tendency to be overrun with the 

 burrs is very nearly in the same latitude north as t 

 Pampas is south. Nor is it less remarkable that t 

 Patagonian parakeet ranges over the Pampas 

 certain seasons of the year, much in the same manr 

 as the Carolina parakeet ranges over the plains 

 the banks of the Mississippi and its branches. 



The circumstances which we have now stated w 

 show that this parakeet is one of peculiar intere 

 and therefore we shall venture to quote Wilso 

 description of it, w r ith one or two of his highly 

 teresting anecdotes. " The Carolina or Illim 

 parrot (for it has been described under both the 

 appellations)," says Wilson, " is thirteen inches lo 

 and twenty-one in extent ; forehead and chee 

 orange-red ; beyond this, for an inch and a hi 

 down and round the neck, a rich and pure yello\ 

 shoulder and bend of the wing also edged with ri 

 orange-red ; the general colour of the rest of t 

 plumage is bright yellowish silky green, with ligl 

 blue reflections, lighted and most diluted with yell< 

 below ; greater wing-coverts and roots of the prin 

 ries deep dusky purple, almost black, exterior or 

 bluish green ; tail long, cuneiform, consisting of twel 

 feathers, the exterior one only half the length, t 

 others increasing to the middle ones, which a 

 streaked along the middle with light blue ; shafts 

 all the feathers, and of most part of the gre 

 plumage, black ; knees and vent orange yellow ; fe 

 a pale whitish flesh-colour ; claws black ; bill whi: 

 or slightly tinged with pale cream ; iris of the e 

 hazel ; round the eye is a small space without feathe 

 covered with a whitish skin ; nostrils placed in : 

 elevated membrane at the base of the bill, ai 

 covered with feathers ; chin wholly bare of feathe; 

 but concealed by those descending on each sidi 

 from each side of the palate hangs a lobe or skin 

 a blackish colour ; tongue thick and fleshy; inside 

 the upper mandible, near the point, grooved exact 

 like a file, that it may hold with more security. Tl 

 female differs very little in her colours and markin 



