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much struck by it, and wished to procure oue or two alive if

possible. I spoke to some Ecuadorians about it, and as they

seemed not quite to understand the bird I wanted, I fetched one

of the skins to show them. “Ah,” they said, “that is not a

Parrot at all,” and seemed to pity our ignorance in supposing it

was. I have forgotten now what they did call it. I showed

them another bird of the same genus which they acknowledged

was a Parrot, and it seemed they thought a bird was not a Parrot

if it had no green about it. This reminds me of an incident

which happened at a hut we stopped at for our last night on the

Napo, near the mouth of that river. There was a pretty Duck

walking about the hut with longish legs ; I enquired what kind

of Duck it was, and when the owner finally understood what I

was alluding to, he assured me it was not a Duck. Close by it was

a fowl whose whole body with the exception of the head was as

bare of feathers as an egg. Mr. Hamilton pointed to it and said,

“ if you told us that was not a fowl we might believe you.”


I know many aviculturists at home consider that the

genus Pioiius are rather stupid birds to keep in captivity. They

are not favourites of mine either, but if I could have procured a

Bronze-wing I think I should have made an exception in its

favour. The general prevailing colour of the bird is a dark

indigo blue, with the feathers on the forepart of the breast

edged with pink, the shoulders and wing coverts are shaded

bronze, the primaries and secondaries violet, the latter partially

bronze. The under tail covert is red with a blue line down the

centre of each feather, the under surface of the tail feathers,

turquoise ; and the under surface of the wings of the same

beautiful shade. The beak is j^ellow horn colour, and the naked

membrane around the eyes, bright red. I think these birds are

not very well known in England, in captivity; but in June, 1883,

they received a pair at the “ Zoo.” One died within the month,

but the other lived there for four years. We never met with

them in any numbers, generally one or two pairs only together.


At an altitude of from four to five thousand feet, we came

across the Pionus seniloides. This is another rather uncommon

looking bird. We met with them in flocks in the early morning

at San Nicolas, where they must have committed great damage

to the maize. We met with the same birds also at Baeza on the

Eastern side, and I am inclined to think that on the whole they

were rather brighter in colour. Just below Baeza we also shot

one specimen of the very rare Urochroma stidoptera. This is not

a pretty bird, being a uniform bright green, with the wings



