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brownish black, and the wing coverts tipped with dull white.

Its total length is 6 inches. In the same neighbourhood we

procured another member of this genus, U. hucti. A very-

beautiful bird, but not so rare as the former.


At the headwaters of the Napo, the Pyrrhura souancei was

rather common. The Indians of that region often brought them

to us alive, chiefly young birds taken from the nest. At one

time I had some of them alive. They were affectionate little

birds, but that is about all one can say of them, for they had a

shriek which I found very unpleasant and irritating. In a large

aviary they would look pretty when the bright red on the wings

would show off to advantage. They were nesting in April, May,

and June. They seemed to feed on some exceedingly sticky

fruit, so that their beaks were quite covered with it. I found the

young were easily reared on banana.


Another bird the Indians there seemed particularly fond

of was the Brotogerys jugnlaris. It was quite a usual thing to

see one of these very pretty little birds on the shoulders of the

Archidoua Indian women. They would carry them in that

position when employed in household duties, and also on long

journeys through the forests. I kept one or two alive for some

time and found them most charming birds. They would sit on

my finger and kiss, and try to hold quite a conversation in a

comical little voice. Their only fault, if fault it was, was that

they always wanted to be with one. One of mine met with a

very sad end for it was gobbled up by a dog, and the other was

accidentally killed by myself. I had carried it in my pocket for

two days through the forests to the river where we were to

embark in canoes, but it got out of the improvised cage I had

made for it in a hut we were staying in for the night, and hid

among the litter on the floor, and to my great grief I trod on it

before I knew it was out. We never met with them again after

we left the headwaters of the Napo, although I have been told

since that they are found also on the Maranon. This I doubt,

and I think my informant mistook them for the B. tui. This

latter bird we first met with in the month of July near the

mouth of the Napo, when they were nesting. They were

exceedingly plentiful, but at that season were mostly seen in

pairs only. Stopping one day on the river bank for a few

minutes, just after we entered the Maranon (as the highest part

of the Amazon is called) our Indians I think must have seen

one of these birds enter a tree overhead, or I don’t know what

would have caused them to suspect there was a nest there. At



