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wing-power in proportion to their weight. An Amazon, on being

first turned out, has no difficulty in flying a few yards and then

stopping. A Grey Parrot, when first turned out, flies until it

drops from exhaustion, so that you may have some difficulty in

finding it, and it has to be out two or three days before it can

be sure of settling where it wants to settle. Amazons, too, never

fly far away, so that if an aviculturist can find a spot free

from boys, and where he can make friends with the keeper, he

may turn out Amazons with but little risk.


I do not think that, if I were goingto buy a talking Parrot,

I should seledt a Blue-fronted Amazon ; but if I were going to

buy one, I should choose a thick-set compact bird, which was

tame, and could say a few words. Amazons are not, like Greys,

silent before strangers : they are quite ready to talk to them. I

know of no means of distinguishing sex, but I should choose a

bird with plenty of yellow about the head. After all, a Parrot’s

powers of talking generally depend a good deal on its possessor’s

imagination, and, if the would-be purchaser has a lively imagi¬

nation, I daresay a Blue-fronted would say as wonderful things

as any other Parrot.


With the Blue-fronted, I would class C. oclirocephala, the

Yellow-fronted, and C. festiva, the Festive Amazon. Both these

are given in the British Museum Catalogue as 14-5 inches in

length, and they seem to me of the same size as the Blue-fronted.


The Yellow-fronted is known by its having a round yellow

spot on its forehead, while its beak is horn-colour with a reddish

spot in the middle. I am not very fond of this species, and I

doubt if the hen bird talks—I might almost say—at all. The

cock bird seems to me to be more uncertain in its temper, and

more jealous than the other Amazons—and it is noisy. Still, I

think the cock bird talks quite as much as the Blue-fronted, and

is not a bad talker. I fancy the cocks have a larger yellow patch

than the hens : if I were buying one, I would only buy one with

a large 3^ellow patch, unless I knew the bird was a good talker.


The Festive Amazon seems to me a more attractive bird.

My own experience has been unfavourable, but only two passed

through my hands. Neither of those were tame or talked ; but

Dr. Greene had one which he told me was very clever and picked

up words very easily. I saw one at Havre which rather tempted

me. It was very tame and said a few words readily ; but I did

not buy it, because it had something the matter with one eye.

According to the Brit. Mus. Catalogue there are two other

Amazons rather like it— C. bodini and C. chloronota. I have



