472 The Cuckoo-like Birds 



fruits of various fruit trees, especially palms, and at least in Mexico are said to 

 commit great depredation in corn-fields when the corn is in the milk. Their 

 eggs, apparently always two in number, are deposited in holes in the largest 

 trees of the forest, both parents assisting in incubation and caring for the young 

 for some time after they are able to fly. Thus the Red-fronted Parrot (A. fin- 

 schi] of western Mexico, Colonel Grayson tells us, is especially gregarious, often 

 assembling in large flocks. "The forests in some localities, particularly when 

 some kinds of fruit are in season, appear at times to be alive with them, only 

 in the mornings and evenings, however, when they are seeking for their favorite 

 food; they are then flying hither and thither through the woods, or perching 

 and climbing among the branches that contain the fruit they are in search of, 

 keeping up at the same time an incessant din of chattering." The Double 

 Yellow-headed Parrot (A. oratrix) of Mexico to Honduras was found by Mr. 

 Nelson to be so tame on the Tres Marias Islands that it could often be secured 

 by quietly slipping over its head a noose attached to a long pole. The subject 

 of our colored plate is the Hawk-Parrot (Deroptyus accipitrinus) of Guiana, 

 Amazonia and Ecuador. 



African Parrots. As the other American representatives of this group offer 

 nothing of particular interest, being but little known in a wild state, we may 

 pass to a brief consideration of the African genus (Poiocephalus\ These are 

 rather small birds, mostly considerably under twelve inches in length, having 

 a very deep bill with the lower mandible much deeper than long, and are divided 

 into two groups, in one of which the general color is green and in the other 

 brown. To the latter belongs RiippelPs Parrot (P. rue p pell i) of Benguela and 

 Damara Land, in which the general color both above and below is smoky brown, 

 with the sides of the head grayish and the bend of the wings and under wing- 

 coverts yellow; the length is about eight and a half inches. Mr. Andersson 

 states that in Damara Land this species is common, being " always met with in 

 small flocks of about half a dozen individuals, and seems to prefer^he larger 

 kinds of trees. It is rather shy, and when quietly perched amongst the branches 

 is very difficult to perceive, until its presence is betrayed by the cries it utters 

 as soon as it conceives itself to be in danger. It is rarely found far from water, 

 which it usually frequents twice a day. It feeds on seeds and berries, sometimes 

 also on the young shoots of trees and plants." 



The next group, comprising the Gray and Black Short-tailed Parrots, is a 

 small one, embracing only three genera and nine or ten species, all but one of 

 which are natives of Africa or Madagascar, the exception being a resident of 

 New Guinea. They are much larger than those just considered, ranging from 

 twelve to twenty inches in length, and may be known by the prevailing gray or 

 black color of the plumage, with or without a minor element of red. The cere 

 is broad and surrounds the base of the upper mandible, but is narrower below 

 the nostrils, and the latter are not surrounded by a swelling of the cere. The 

 sides of the head are more or less naked, the wings moderately long, and the tail 

 square or rounded and about half the length of the wing. In the African genus 

 Psittacus the sides of the head for the greater portion are naked and covered 



