332 Notes on the Parroqnets of India. 



they have been content to accept as true all that their immediate 

 predecessors have left on record^ without taking the trouble to 

 inquire into the truth^ and thus the errors of the past have been 

 perpetuated and several distinct species have become doubled up 

 together under the one time-honored name of Palmornis Alexandri, 

 or Alexandrine Parroquet. 



Various inquiries long since instituted by myself among the 

 leaders of science in Calcutta only served to elicit the fact that 

 none of them possessed the least suspicion that there could be 

 more than one species in the country to which that name had 

 been assigned^ neither could they tell me whether any of their 

 museums contained a specimen of the Ceylon bird^ the usual 

 answer being, ''*' send us a description of what you consider the 

 true P. Alexandri, and then we shall be able to tell you whether 

 we have it or not/' Determined to follow out my old plan of 

 taking nothing for granted, no matter who the authority might 

 be, I at once set to work to collect specimens and information 

 from all parts of the country, and the result of my investigations 

 I now purpose to lay before the public. 



The habits, manners, and food of the parroquets are, as a rule, 

 nearly the same in all. The eggs are laid in holes cut by the 

 birds for that purpose in the thick branch or trunk of some soft 

 wooded tree ; they vary in number from two to four, and are 

 pure white. P. torquafus however is said sometimes to lay its 

 eggs in the holes of ruined buildings, but this can only be re- 

 garded as an unnatural and occasional deviation from the rule, 

 since previous to the decay of such buildings all birds must have 

 resorted to rocks and trees or to the earth itself. The food of 

 all consists of fruits, berries, hard grain, and even the smaller 

 seeds of grasses and other plants, and they are quite as expert 

 in dividing cherry stones after feasting on the pulp, as are the 

 birds of the Grosbeak kind. 



The havoc committed in the fields of ripening corn is often 

 very great, many of the ears being cut off and thrown down 

 apparently in pure wanton mischief. They are fond of bathing 

 in shallow waters and are naturally very cleanly in their habits ; 

 they are fond likewise of swallowing small pieces of gravel to 

 assist in the digestion of their food, and sharpen the edges of 

 their massive mandibles by grinding down lumps of hard clay- 

 stone and other earths, and if not well supplied with these, the 

 captive bird is liable to become sickly and drop suddenly from 

 its perch in a fit. A piece of hard wood placed in the cage will 

 soon be reduced to chips, and by this means the too exuberant 

 growth of the mandibles is checked ; without these occasional 

 amusements, the bird is often very destructive to its cage cutting' 



