THE



121



Bxncultural /Ifoagasine,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



New Series. —VOL. II. —No. 4 .—All rights reserved. FEBRUARY, 1904 .



GUILDING’S AMAZON PARROT.


Chrysotis guildingi.


By the Honble. and Rev. Canon Dutton.


I have been asked to write a short notice to accompany

the plate of Guilding’s Amazon, and so I tell what I have been

able to gather.


I have wished to have one ever since first making the

species’ acquaintance at the Zoo, but more on account of its

rarity than for any charm the bird exhibited beyond that of

beauty. To my way of thinking, and I expect I am not singular,

for every one who sees mine leaves the other birds to admire it,

it is the most beautiful, as it is the most distinctive of all the

Amazons. The browns, the yellows, and the blues of the wing

make a superb combination of colour, and the black is singularly

soft in its effect. One asks oneself why has one particular

Amazon departed from the universal green of the family to adopt

brown and yellow in the place of green and red ? Is the

colouring of the island of St. Vincent, where alone this bird is

found, such as to make brown and yellow protective there? The

island of St. Lucia has its own special Amazon ; Dominica has

two, but they do not abandon the green foundation of the family

plumage.


The plate makes it unnecessary to describe the bird’s

colouring, but I may as well give the dimensions from the British

Museum Catalogue; which are, Total length about 17 inches,

wing io’6, tail 6-4, bill 1-5. From this it will be seen that it is



