602 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Scansores. before the storms of that inclement season. 1 We may 

 s """v~~"' judge of the abundance of this species, even up to a recent 

 period, from the statement of Vaillant, who assures us that 

 he saw a package containing above 6000 skins, which had 

 been sent to a plumassier at Paris, for the formation of 

 ornamental dresses. 2 Mr Audubon, however, informs us 

 that their numbers are now rapidly diminishing, and that 

 in some districts where, twenty-five years ago, they were 

 plentiful, scarcely one is to be seen. "I should think," he 

 adds, " that along the Mississippi there is not now half the 

 number that existed fifteen years ago." With a view to 

 illustrate the natural habits of these birds, we extract the 

 following account from the work of an English gentleman 

 now settled in America. " The Carolina parrakeets in all 

 their movements, which are uniformly gregarious, show a 

 peculiar predilection for the alluvial, rich, and dark forests 

 bordering the principal rivers and larger streams, in which 

 the toweling cypress 3 and gigantic sycamore 4 spread their 

 vast summits, or stretch their innumerable arms, over a 

 wide waste of moving or stagnant waters. From these, the 

 beech, and the hack-berry, 5 they derive an important supply 

 of food. The flocks, moving in the manner of wild pigeons, 

 dart in swift and airy phalanx through the green boughs 

 of the forest ; screaming in a general concert, they wheel 

 in wide and descending circles round the tall button-wood, 

 and all alight in the same instant, their green lustre, like 

 the fairy mantle, rendering them nearly invisible beneath 

 the shady branches, where they sit, perhaps arranging 

 their plumage, and, shuffling side by side, seem to caress 

 and scratch each other's heads with all the fondness and 

 unvarying friendship of affectionate doves. If the gun 

 . thin their ranks, they hover over the screaming, wounded, 

 or dying, and returning and flying around the place where 

 they miss their companions, in their sympathy seem to lose 

 all idea of impending danger. More fortunate in their ex- 

 cursions, they next proceed to gratify the calls of hunger, 

 and descend to the banks of the river or the neighbouring 

 fields in quest of the inviting kernels of the cockle burr, 6 

 and probably of the bitter weed, 7 which they extract from 

 their husks with great dexterity. In the depth of winter, 

 when other resources begin to fail, they, in common with 

 the yellow-bird and some other finches, assemble among 

 the tall sycamores, 8 and, hanging from the extreme twigs, 

 in the most airy and graceful postures, scatter around 

 them a cloud of down from the pendant balls, in quest of 

 the seeds which now afford them an ample repast. With 

 that peculiar caprice, or perhaps appetite, which charac- 

 terizes them, they are also observed to frequent the saline 

 springs or licks, to gratify their uncommon taste for salt. 

 Out of mere wantonness, they often frequent the orchards, 

 and appear delighted with the fruitless frolic of pluck- 

 ing apples from the trees, and strewing them on the ground 

 untasted. So common is this practice among them in 

 Arkansas territory, that no apples are ever suffered to 

 ripen. They are also fond of some sorts of berries, and 

 particularly of mulberries, which they eat piecemeal in 

 their usual manner, as they hold them by the foot. Ac- 

 cording to Audubon, they likewise attack the outstanding 

 stacks of grain in flocks, committing great waste ; and on 

 these occasions, as well as the former, they are so bold 

 or incautious as readily to become the prey of the sports- 

 man in great numbers. Peculiarity of food appears wholly 

 to influence the visits and residence of this bird, and in 

 plain, champaign, or mountainous countries, they are 

 wholly strangers, though common along the banks of all 

 the intermediate water- courses and lagoons. 



" Of their manners at the interesting period o-f propagation Scansores. 

 and incubation we are not yet satisfactorilyinformed. They s — — v— ' 

 nest in hollow trees, and take little if any pains to provide 

 more than a simple hollow in which to lay their eggs, like the 

 woodpeckers. Several females deposit their eggs in the same 

 cavity ; the number laid by each is said to be only three, 

 which are nearly round, and of a light-greenish white. 9 

 They are at all times particularly attached to the large sy- 

 camores, in the hollow trunks of which they roost in close 

 community, and enter at the same aperture, into which 

 they climb. They are said to cling close to the sides of 

 the tree, holding fast by the claws and bill ; and into 

 these hollows they often retire during the day, either in 

 very warm or inclement weather, to sleep or pass away 

 the time in indolent and social security, like the JRupicolas 10 

 of the Peruvian caves, at length only hastily aroused to 

 forage at the calls of hunger. Indeed, from the swiftness 

 and celerity of their aerial movements, darting through the 

 gleaming sunshine, like so many sylvan cherubs, decked in 

 green and gold, it is obvious that their actions as well as 

 their manners are not calculated for any long endurance, 

 and, shy and retiring from all society but that to which 

 they are inseparably wedded, they rove abroad with inces- 

 sant activity, until their wants are gratified, when, hid from 

 sight, they again relapse into that indolence which seems 

 a relief to their exertions." 11 



The pavouan parrakeet (Ps. Guianensis, Lath.) belongs 

 to our present group. This species is native to Cayenne, 

 and the Antilles, where it is not uncommon, often flying 

 about in flocks, frequenting the wooded savannahs, and 

 feeding by preference on the berries of Erythrina coral- 

 lodendron. Its length is about twelve inches, its prevail- 

 ing plumage green, the cheeks and sides of the neck being 

 speckled with bright red, which becomes more conspicu- 

 ous as the bird advances in age ; the smaller wing-coverts 

 are bright red, the greater yellow, and both the quill and 

 tail feathers are dusky yellow beneath. The bill is whit- 

 ish, the legs and feet gray. We owe to M. Gabriac the 

 following interesting particulars regarding the breeding of 

 a pair of this species in the domestic state. Two cages 

 were prepared for their reception in the month of April. 

 They were placed contiguous, but communicating only by 

 a small door, and the one enjoyed the " blessed light of 

 day," while the other was kept covered, so that no light 

 could enter but by the mutual door. The latter also con- 

 tained an abundant supply of saw-dust. The birds were 

 placed in the open apartment, which was the larger of the 

 two, and they speedily showed symptoms of tender attach- 

 ment to each other. They long declined, however, to en- 

 ter the darkened dwelling, although the female put in her 

 head, withdrew it again, advanced part of her body, then 

 returned tail foremost,— but finally, after several days of 

 hesitation, she entered the mysterious chamber. There 

 she expressed her satisfaction by little kindly cheerful 

 cries, and often called in the male, who exhibited every 

 proof of affection. She soon began to scrape about, and 

 arrange a kind of nest, and on the 18th of May she layed 

 her first egg, succeeded at intervals of three days by a se- 

 cond, third, and fourth, — after which she sat assiduously. 

 The male took no share in the hatching, but he kept con- 

 stantly close by the nest, as if to cheer her sedentary hours. 

 He did not however allow his affection to his wife to inter- 

 fere with his duty to his hoped-for family. If the female, 

 who never left the nest but to solace herself with meat 

 and drink, appeared to devote too much time to that indul- 

 gence, he remanded her back by a little blow with his 



1 Nuttall's American Ornithology, vol. i. p. 546. ' Platanus occidentalis. 7 Ambrosia, species. 



3 Hilt* Nat. des Perroqucts. b Celtis occidentalism 8 Platanus occidentalis. 



z Cupressns disticha. Xanthinm strumarium. 9 Audubon, Orn. Biog 



10 Cock of the rock of Peru, which is also somewhat related, apparently, to the parrots. (Note by Mr Nuttall.J 



11 Nuttall's Manual of Ornithology, i, 45G. 



p. 133. 



