PARROTS. 31 



tree, sweeping over the ground without ever moving their wings. Arrived at this second tree they 

 recommence the work of destruction just as before. 



In North America and in Chili they attack the fruit before it is ripe, in search of the as yet 

 milky pippins, and we may imagine the damage thus caused. According to Audubon, the corn- 

 stacks in the fields are sometimes the objects of their attack; they will hang upon them, and draw 

 the ears out of the sheaves, thus sparing the owner the trouble of threshing. Some prefer one kind 

 of seed and some another ; but all agree in spoiling everything that man sows or plants for his own 

 use ; and on this account anything like friendship between the farmer and the parrots is quite out of 

 the question. 



After having satisfied their hunger in this manner they go in search of water to drink ; and, 

 according to Audubon and Schomburgk, do not refuse salt, or at any rate brackish water. Besides 

 occasional rain-baths, they will bathe in lakes, washing themselves, Le Vaillant tells us, until they are 

 soaked through, as with a heavy rain. We also learn from Audubon that they enjoy playing in the 

 sand like fowls, covering their plumage with dust, and will creep into king-fishers' holes, in order 

 to find it. They are fond of salt ground, and are always to be found near the saltworks in the 

 forests. 



The incubation of these birds takes place during the months that correspond in their native lands 

 to our spring. The larger kinds appear to lay but once in the year, and then only two eggs ; though 

 the Australian Grass Parrot and some others are exceptions to this rule, inasmuch as they will lay 

 regularly from three to four eggs, and in some cases from six to nine, twice or even three times during 

 the year. The eggs are always white, smooth, and round. Holes in trees are the favourite nesting- 

 places of these birds, but not exclusively so ; some American kinds will lay in holes in the rocks, and 

 the Indian parrots in crevices in old buildings, pagodas, monuments, or houses. 



Audubon assures us that several females will lay in one hole ; but we consider this as very 

 doubtful, though it is true that parrots prefer breeding in society, sometimes even associated in 

 immense flocks. 



Molina speaks of a large settlement of these breeding birds in Chili, and Poppig of another, 

 probably of the same species. " These several settlements," says the last-mentioned naturalist, " must 

 be very astonishing to those to whom they are new. Fancy yourself, about mid-day, wearily 

 approaching a precipice, believing yourself to be perfectly alone, that deep silence reigning around 

 you that always indicates noon in these tropical regions, when all animals seek repose in sleep ; a 

 kind of growling strikes your ear, but you look in vain for any creature that could produce it ; 

 suddenly you hear the parrots' cry of warning, answered by many others, and before you are awake to 

 your true position, are surrounded by swarms of these quarrelsome birds, flying about in a close 

 circle, and in evident anger, threatening to strike you. From all the innumerable holes upon the face 

 of the rocks little round heads are protruding, looking comical enough ; and those that do not come 

 out unite their screams to the general uproar. Every opening indicates a breeding hole, that has been 

 excavated by its owner in the clay met with between the strata of the rocks. At times many hundreds 

 may be counted." 



These colonies are always so cunningly situated, that it is impossible for a beast of prey to 

 approach them. Such settlements could not be made in the woods, as the trees would not afford a 

 foundation strong enough to sustain their weight. 



In general, it is in old trees that parrots make their nests ; in Central Africa the Adansonia is 

 preferred, more especially should it grow on the outskirts of a forest. We once saw a group of 

 monkey-bread trees in the Kordofanian steppes inhabited in this maimer, although not yet covered 

 with their leaves. 



