PARROTS. .39 



flew away. Poor Polly was for some time in bitter distress, but at length found consolation for her 

 motherly feelings in the discovery of some deserted hedge sparrows ; these she conveyed to her cage, 

 where they were soon on the best terms with their adopted parent. 



Many American varieties of the Short-tails, usually called GREEN PARROTS {Chrysotis), 

 differ from their African congeners, the Jakos, in their prevailing green colour, and in the small size 

 of the bare parts around the eyes. Their body is compact, the beak strongly bent, the tail short, 

 broad, and somewhat rounded ; the wings broad, and strongly formed, reaching nearly to the middle 

 of the tail ; the legs are strong, thick, and fleshy ; the feet powerful, and armed with strong claws, the 

 plumage lies close and thick, the feathers being small and imbricated. Two species of this family 

 are especially well known to us, the Green and the Amazon. They are both large birds, of fourteen 

 inches long, and about twenty-one to twenty-three across the wings ; the tail measures from four 

 inches to four inches and two-thirds ; and the wing, from the shoulder to the tip, seven inches. 



THE AMAZON PARROT. 



The Amazon Parrot (Chrysotis Amazonkus) is of a brilliant green colour, sky blue on the 

 brow and top of the head, yellow on its cheeks and throat, and red on the shoulders ; the side tail- 

 feathers are blood-red beneath, the beak deep horn grey, the cere blackish, the feet ash grey, powdered 

 with white, and the iris externally bordered with orange, and internally with pale yellow. The Green 

 parrot {Chrysotis cestivus), on the contrary, has its forehead and cheek stripes of a sky blue colour. 

 The shoulders are green, and the red side-feathers of the tail edged with green. 



From the observations made by the Prince von Wied, Speke, Schomburghk, and Burmeister, we 

 learn that both kinds are widely spread over South America. 



The Amazon parrot avoids the forests near the coast, but frequents the woods and bushes of the 

 higher lands, while the Green parrot prefers the primitive forests. Both kinds are much alike in their 

 habits and mode of life. Early in the morning they leave their roosting-places, and fly screaming 

 through the air, beating violently with their wings, until they reach the woods or plantations where 

 they can find fruit ; at noon they rest, after which they set out in search of food ; and in the 

 evening, except in breeding time, assemble in great numbers, making a terrible noise until a 

 roosting-place is found for the night. 



The Prince von Wied gives the following account of the Green parrot, which is called the 

 Kuriche by the Brazilians : — " In all the eastern coasts of Brazil that I travelled through this bird 

 was very common ; I found it in numbers wherever there were thick forests, and on the borders of 

 mango swamps at the mouths of rivers ; it breeds equally well in all such places, but seems to prefer 

 localities where it can obtain the fruit of the mango. Graat flocks inhabit the wooded country 

 around Rio de Janeiro, Parahiba, Espirito Santo, and Belmonte, and their loud voices may be heard 

 morning and evening in the bushes of the bog-like country, which is watered by the floods from 

 the rivers. These bushes stand in the same relation to the Brazilian rivers as willows do to European 

 streams ; but the trees are higher, and the parrots can often make their homes on their strong stems or 

 branches. In the breeding season they usually fly up into the air in pairs, calling and screaming 

 loudly, but except at that time are met with in very numerous flocks. We ourselves have seen such 

 enormous swarms of short-tailed parrots in the Mucuri forests and other places, that the whole wood- 

 land was filled with their extraordinary cry. On these occasions many different species seemed to be 

 combined in one flock ; their united screams were deafening, and as one party drove another from 

 the trees, excitement gave new vigour to their shrieks. Should they alight upon a loft}-, thickly- 



