214 THE CAROLINA PARROT. 



They render the farmer great service, by eating the cockle- 

 burs which grow on the rich alluvial soil of Carolina. This 

 prickly fruit is apt to come off on the wool of the sheep, 

 which, in some places, it almost completely destroys. The 

 bird also lives on the beech-nut and seeds of the cypress. 

 The head with the brains and intestines of the Carolina 

 parrot are said to be poisonous to eat ; but how far such is the 

 case seems to be a matter of doubt. 



Its chief abode is along the shores of the Mississippi, and 

 it reaches the neighbourhood of Lake Michigan ; but eastward 

 of the Alleghany Mountains it is seldom met with further 

 north than the State of Maryland. Far more hardy than the 

 generality of the parrot tribe, a flock has been seen facing a 

 snow-; n alono- the banks of the Ohio. 



