OF THE UNITED STATES 257 



remarkable statement that " We have no positive information 

 about the number of eggs laid by this species in a wild state. 

 . . . Mr. Robert Ridgway's birds would not use the nest- 

 ing boxes provided for them, and both females deposited their 

 eggs on the floor of the cage ; they were laid in July, August, and 

 September, respectively/ None of these eggs can be called round; 

 they vary from ovate to short ovate, and are rather pointed. 

 They are white, with the faintest yellowish tint, ivory-like and 

 quite glossy; the shell is rather thick, close grained, and deeply 

 pitted, not unlike the eggs of the African Ostrich (Struthio- 

 camelus), but of course not as noticeable. Holding the egg in a 

 strong light, the inside appears to be pale yellow." Bendire suc- 

 ceeded in getting together very considerable information in re- 

 gard to this species, and, with others in his work, printed the 

 usual prediction that " the total extermination of the Carolina 

 paroquet is only a question of a few more years, and the end of 

 the present century will probably mark their disappearance." 



It may be safely predicted that all birds all over the world are 

 upon the road toward extinction, but some are very much nearer 

 to that fate than are others. Besides the Carolina paroquet in 

 this country, the Roseate spoonbills (Ajaja ajaja) are nearly gone, 

 and so are some of the other waders. Wild turkeys and many 

 other game birds are rapidly being shot out, and the Passenger 

 pigeon (Ectopistes) is now rare where it formerly existed in mill- 

 ions. Skins of the California vulture (Pseudogryphus califor- 

 nianus) will fetch f 100 each, and so does an egg of the same 

 species, while some of the raptorial birds are becoming very 

 scarce. Ivory-billed woodpeckers are nearly gone, and the Pile- 

 ated woodpecker will doubtless meet with the same fate later on, 

 while every now and then we hear of the threatened extinction of 

 even some of the smaller passerine types, as occurred not long 

 ago in the case of the bluebird. 



But we must not carry our paragraphs here into the realms of 

 philosophy, and be tempted to draw pictures in futurity, of times 

 when there may be nothing remaining save man and the English 

 sparrows, with all that remains of our forests converted into 

 fancy parks and preserves. 



So much for what I have to say about the present status and 

 probable extinction of the Carolina paroquet, but it is believed by 

 not a few that we have within the boundaries of the United 

 States still another representative of the family Psittacidw, or 



