264< SCANSORES. PSITTACID.E. 



trees, frequently afford the Parroquet a fit situation 

 for her own domestic economy. Though easily cut 

 by her strong beak, the thin arches and galleries 

 of these insects are of sufficiently firm consistence 

 to constitute a secure and strong abode. In the 

 cavity formed by her own industry she lays four or 

 five eggs, upon the chips and dust. 



But the precaution of the poor bird in selecting 

 a locality, and her perseverance in burrowing into 

 so solid a structure, are not sufficient to ensure 

 her safety or that of her young. The aperture 

 by which she herself enters and departs, affords 

 also a ready entrance to a subtle and voracious 

 enemy, the Yellow Boa. A young friend of mine 

 once observing a Parroquet enter into a hole in a 

 large duck-ants' nest, situated on a bastard-cedar, 

 mounted to take her eggs or young. Arrived at 

 the place, he cautiously inserted his hand, which 

 presently came into contact with something smooth 

 and soft. He guessed it might be the callow young, 

 but hesitating to trust it, he descended, and pro- 

 ceeded to cut a stick, keeping his eye on the orifice, 

 from which the old bird had not yet flown. Hav- 

 ing again mounted, he thrust in the stick and forced 

 off the whole upper part of the structure, dis- 

 closing to his utter discomfiture and terror, an 

 enormous Yellow Snake, about whose jaws the fea- 

 thers of the swallowed Parroquet were still ad- 

 hering, while more of her plumage scattered in the 

 nest revealed her unhappy fate. The serpent in- 

 stantly darted down the tree, and the astonished 

 youth, certainly not less terrified, also descended 



