136 CAROLINA PARROT. 



The Parrot does not satisfy himself with Cockle-burs, but eats or de- 

 stroys almost every kind of fruit indiscriminately, and on this account is 

 always an unwelcome visitor to the planter, the farmer, or the gardener. 

 The stacks of grain put up in the field are resorted to by flocks of iheSe 

 birds, which frequently cover them so entirely, that they present to the 

 eye the same effect as if a brilliantly coloured carpet had been thrown over 

 them. They cling around the whole stack, pull out the straws, and destroy 

 twice as much of the grain as would suffice to satisfy their hunger. They 

 assail the Pear and Apple-trees, when the fruit is yet very small and far 

 from being ripe, and this merely for the siake of the seeds. As on the stalks 

 of Corn, they alight on the Apple-trees of our orchards, or the Pear-trees 

 in the gardens, in great numbers ; and, as if throvigh mere mischief, pluck 

 off the fruits, open them up to the core, and, disappointed at the sight of 

 the seeds, which are yet soft and of a milky consistence, drop the apple 

 or pear, and pluck another, passing from branch to branch, until the 

 trees which were before so promising, are left completely stripped, like 

 the ship water-logged and abandoned by its crew, floating on the yet 

 agitated waves, after the tempest has ceased. They visit the Mulberries, 

 Pecan-nuts, Grapes, and even the seeds of the Dog-wood, before they are 

 ripe, and on all commit similar depredations. The Maize alone never 

 attracts their notice. 



Do not imagine, reader, that all these outrages are borne without se- 

 vere retaUation on the part of the planters. So far from this, tlie Para- 

 keets are destroyed in great numbers, for whilst busily engaged in pluck- 

 ing off the fruits or tearing the grain from the stacks, the husbandman 

 approaches them with perfect ease, and commits great slaughter among 

 them. All the survivors rise, shriek, fly round about for a few mi- 

 nutes, and again alight on the very place of most imminent danger. 

 The gun is kept at work ; eight or ten, or even twenty, are killed at 

 every discharge. The Hving birds, as if conscious of the death of their 

 companions, sweep over their bodies, screaming as loud as ever, but still 

 return to the stack to be shot at, until so few remain alive, that the far- 

 mer does not consider it worth liis while to spend more of his ammuni- 

 tion. I have seen several hundreds destroyed in this manner in the course 

 of a few hours, and have procured a basketful of these birds at a few 

 shots, in order to make choice of good specimens for drawing the figures 

 by which this species is represented in the plate now under your conside- 

 ration. 



