15 



of the body being finished ofi" with bright red, the neck of a golden color, 

 back a lively green, with a yellow beak, excei)t the very points, which 

 werenf alight dun color, the wings and tail being both of a jet black, and 

 the lai^t tipped off" with white; it was a most beautiful and lovely bird, with 

 its brilliant and richly variegated plumage. We were much chagrined, 

 while observing these, to see a man-of-war hawk ilying by with one in 

 his mouth, apparently having just caught it." If we are allowed to state 

 our own opinion in regard to the last sentence of this quotation, we 

 would suggest that it was the red throat of the man-of-war hawk, and 

 not a parrot, which our narrator saw. 



When the islander wishes to take the lories alive, he i^rovides himself 

 with two pieces of bamboo, each about a yard long. On the end of one 

 he perches a tame bird, and from the extremity of the other suspends a 

 short running noose made of cocoanut-fibers. The decoy bird as it is 

 carried about among the cocoanut-trees utters a harsh, rasping sound, 

 and wild birds fly down from the trees and alight alongside it on 

 the bauiboo stick, when by means of the other stick they are skillfully 

 noosed. 



When caged aboard the ship, they exhibited as pretty a picture of 

 love as one can imagine, well meriting their name of ^^ love-birds ^\ 

 They sat billing and smoothing each other's leathers for hours, 

 and as night came on two would get together and sleep with heads 

 turned toward each other. They lived in confinement but a very short 

 time and bore it badly. At times, even while we stood watching their 

 lively antics, one would tumble off its perch and die, apparently in con- 

 vulsions. 



The islands on which these birds are found are very small, and it 

 would not require a very great effort to totally exterminate them. 



STEIGID^. _ „ 



OTUS BRACHYOTIJS, {Gm.) Bole [No. G73G5]. 



Sirix hracJiiiolus, Gm., Syst. Nat.,i, 1788, 289. 



Ottis hracliyofiis, CoiE, Isis, 1349. 



Bracliiiodts palHstris, Gould, B. Eiir., pi. 40,— Coues, Key N. A. Birds, 1872,204; Birds 



Nor ill west, 1874, 30G. 

 BracJnjofus eacsiiii, BuEW'., Proc. Boston Soc, 1856. — Bd., Birdg N. Am., 1858,54. 

 Ottiti {IJracIyvtns) hracli'jo'.as, Bd., Buew., & RiDG., N. A. Birds, iii, 1874, 22. 



Locality: Talcahnano, Chili. One specimen. 



