BLACK-BILLED PARROT. 267 



sical ; and brilliant if not beautiful ; particularly 

 when the sun shines on their green backs and crim- 

 soned wings. They generally prefer lofty trees, ex- 

 cept when, in June, the ripe yellow plantain tempts 

 them to descend, or when the black berry shines 

 upon the pimento. Of the latter, the flocks devour 

 an immense quantity, and the former they destroy 

 by cutting it to pieces with their powerful beaks, 

 to get at the small seeds. 



One day in January, when the pimento on the 

 brow of Bluefields Mountain was about ready 

 for picking, being full-sized, but yet green and 

 hard, I observed large flocks of Black-bills and a 

 few Parroquets, flying to and fro with voluble 

 chatter, now alighting to feed on the hot aromatic 

 berry, now flying off, and wheeling round to the 

 same neighbourhood again. They were not at all 

 shy, but, with unusual carelessness of our proximity, 

 scarcely moved at the report of the gun which 

 brought their companions to the ground. Of two 

 which I shot on this occasion, I found the craws 

 stuffed with the cotyledons of the seed alone, the 

 most pungently aromatic part of the berry; the 

 fleshy part having been, as I presume, shorn off by 

 the beak and rejected. When alighted, as is often 

 the case, on a dry branch, their emerald hue is 

 conspicuous, and affords a fair mark for the gunner ; 

 but in a tree of full foliage, their colour proves an 

 excellent concealment. They seem aware of this, 

 and their sagacity prompts them frequently to rely 

 on it for security. Often we hear their voices 

 proceeding from a certain tree, or else have marked 



N 2 



