98 TROPICAL WIT.D TJFK IN BRITISH GUIANA 



two hundred feet above the jungle floor. J5ut these places 

 were only recruiting or half-way stations. One tree was not 

 far from the edge of the jungle south of Kalacoon House. 

 To tliis, about five o'clock, or earlier if the day were cloudy, 

 the parrakeets began to come in flocks of six to twenty. But 

 no matter what the size of the flocks, it always consisted of 

 an even number of individuals, and although the birds flew 

 sometimes so compactly that their wings almost touched, it 

 was invariably possible to detect the still closer segregation 

 which indicated mated pairs of these affectionate little be- 

 ings. Flock after flock dashed into the tree, silently as a 

 rule, with individual bickering and chattering after they had 

 alighted. When many had arrived from all directions, even 

 froni the iiiV^i^ of the jungle, toward which their ultimate 

 flight would again take them, a period of silence ensued, and 

 the sharpest scrutiny failed to distinguish a single bird 

 among the green leaves. Then at an instant's signal, some 

 reaction to a stimidus too delicate for our senses to detect, 

 the whole company of several hundred birds was up and off 

 like a whirlwind, all screaming their hardest. To an ob- 

 server below, they were out of sight in an instant, but on 

 other days I obsei-ved the same lot of birds from a hill-top 

 in the clearing and could then watch their subsequent actions. 

 They did not fly direct, but mounted high in air and made 

 severed magnificent circles, a half-mile or a mile in diameter. 

 The spirit of the flock would seem to have complete posses- 

 sion. Occasionally, when a few parrakeets would dash down- 

 ward toward the bamboos, if the majority willed to go on, 

 these would swerve upward again for another great whirling 

 circle. Finally as if drawn into an irresistible vortex, all 

 banked sharjily and spiralled downward and into a tall tree 

 near the bamboos. This was the last resting place, and after 

 a few moments, the mass of parrakeets again rose and 

 ])itched into the bamboos for the night. Xot a rustle of leaf 

 nor the sliglitest whisper marked tlieir presence when once 

 they had entered the dense foliage. Sometimes several large 



