PAROQUETS 317 



of the underparts barred with grayish brown and white in about equal 

 amounts. L., 9'00; W., 6'50; T., 3'00; Tar., 1'75. 



Range. Southern Fla., chiefly in the Kissimmee 'prairie' region of 

 Osceola, Polk, and DeSoto Counties, and also Manatee County. 



Nest, in a hole in the ground excavated by the bird. Eggs, white, 5-7, 

 1*23 x 1*03. Date, Ft. Thompson, Fla., Mch. 26. 



This diurnal Owl is locally abundant in its restricted range. Excel- 

 lent accounts of its habits will be found under the following references: 

 Rhoads, Auk, IX, 1892, 1-8; Scott, Ibid., 216-218; Palmer, Ibid, 1896, 

 100-108. 



The BURROWING OWL (378. Speotyto cunicularia hypog<za),is well known 

 in the western United States from the Pacific coast to Minnesota, and 

 Louisiana, and from British Columbia, and Manitoba s. to Panama; it is 

 migratory north of Oregon arid northern Kansas; and accidental in New 

 York and Massachusetts. 



ORDER PSITTACI. PARROTS, MACAWS, PAROQUETS, 

 COCKATOOS 



40. FAMILY PSITTACID.E. PARROTS AND PAROQUETS. (Fig. 51.) 



The order Psittaci is divided into six families containing, in all, 

 about five hundred and sixty species. The American species, some one 

 hundred and ninety in number, are included in the present family 

 which has also about two hundred and forty members in the Old World. 

 With the exception of the Thick-billed Parrot (Rhynchopsitta pachy- 

 rhyncha), which rarely enters Arizona from Mexico, the Carolina 

 Paroquet is the only species inhabiting the United States, and it is not 

 found south of our boundaries. Parrots and Paroquets the dividing 

 line between the two can not be sharply drawn are forest-inhabiting, 

 fruit- and seed-eating birds. They are poor walkers, good climbers, 

 and strong fliers, making extended flights in search of food. Their 

 voices in Nature are harsh and discordant; nevertheless, almost all the 

 species possess the power of speech. Some, however, rarely learn to 

 talk, while others invariably do. The red-tailed, gray African Parrot 

 (Psittacus erythacus) takes first rank for ability in this direction, while 

 the Mexican Double Yellow-head (Amazona oratrix) is usually accorded 

 second place. Parrots are believed to mate for life. They nest in holes, 

 usually in trees, and lay white eggs. The young are hatched with a 

 covering of white down and are reared in the nest. 



382. Conuropsis carolinensis (Linn.). CAROLINA PAROQUET. (Fig. 

 51.) Ads. Head and neck all around yellow; forehead and cheeks deep 

 orange; bend of the wing and tibiae orange; rest of the plumage bright green; 

 the inner vanes of the wing-feathers fuscous; the under surface of the tail 

 yellowish. Im. Similar, but the head and neck green like the back; fore- 

 head and region in front of the eye orange; tibiae and bend of the wing 

 without orange. L., 12'50; W., 7'40; T., 6'50. 



Range. S. Fla., ne. and e. of Lake Okeechobee; formerly from the 

 Atlantic coast of se. U. S. w. to Tex., Okla., and e t Colo, and n. to Nebr., 



