588 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



<,'o north of the month of the Oliio. We liave seen no note of their occurrence 

 soutli of the United States, and in view of their very limited area and 

 rapid diminution in numlu'rs, there is little douht hut that tlieir total extinc- 

 tion is only a matter of years, i)erhaps to be consummated within the lifetime 

 of persons now living. It is a question whether both sexes are similarly col- 

 ored, as in most American Parrots, or whether the female, as just stated, 

 lacks the yellow of the head. Several female birds killed in Florida in 

 March agree in the diameters indicated above for that sex ; but the material 

 at our command is not sufficient to decide whether all females are similarly 

 marked, or whether the plumage described is that of the bird of the second 

 year generally. There is no trace whatever of yellow on the head. 



Habits. In determining the geographical distribution of the Carolina 

 Parrot, a distinction should be made between its accidental occurrence and 

 its usual and habitual residence. Strictly speaking, this species, though of 

 roving habits, is not migratory. Its movements are irregular, and dependent 

 upon the abundance or the scarcity of its food. Where it breeds, it is usu- 

 ally a permanent resident. An exceptional visit to a place cannot be taken 

 as certain evidence that it will reappear in that locality. 



"When Wilson ^^Tote, it inhabited the interior of Louisiana and the countiy 

 lying upon the banks of the Mississippi and Ohio liivers, and their tributary 

 waters, even beyond the Illinois Eiver, to the neighborhood of Lake Michi- 

 gan, in latitude 42° north. The same writer insisted that, contmry to the 

 generally received opinion, it was at that time resident in all those places. 

 Eastward of the great range of the Alleghanies it has been very seldom seen 

 north of the State of Maryland, though straggling parties have been occa- 

 sionally observed among the valleys of the Juniata. Barton states that a 

 very large flock of these birds was observed in January, 1780, about twenty- 

 five miles northwest of Albany. 



The occurrence of this species in midwinter so far to the north, and its 

 constant residence west of the Alleghanies throughout the year in colder 

 regions, justify the conclusion of its being a very hardy bird. In evidence 

 of this, Wilson mentions the fact of his having seen a number of them, in 

 the month of February, on the banks of the Ohio, in a snow-storm, flying 

 about like Pigeons, and in full cry. 



The very evident preference which the Carolina Parakeet evinces for west- 

 ern localities, though in the same parallel of latitude with those east of the 

 Alleghanies, wdiich it rarely or never visits, is attributed by the same atten- 

 tive observer to certain peculiar features of the country to which it is par- 

 ticularly and strongly attached. These are the low^ rich alluvial bottoms 

 along the borders of creeks, covered with a gigantic growth of button wood, 

 deep and imjxnetrable swamps of the cypress, and those peculiar salines — 

 or, as they are called, salt-licks — so frequent throughout that region, all of 

 w^liich are regularly visited by the Parakeets. The great abundance of the 

 seeds of the cockle-bur {Xanthium struma t'imn) is also given as a still greater 



