133 



. SUBKINGDOM VEETEBEATA. 



Flq. 222. Fig. 



ConUrus 

 Carolina Parrot. 



Cacatua mlphvrea, 

 Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. 



hundred and fifty species, fully one-half belonging tr> StiutJjJ 

 America. 



The Carolina Parrot, the single species found in the 

 United States, is rapidly becoming extinct. Its curiosity is 

 its greatest foe. One of a flock being shot, the rest will keep 

 alighting near by, till all are captured. 



Cockatoos are forms often seen in onr menageries. One 

 genus is distinguished for its size and erectile, sulphur- 

 colored crest, but especially for its longevity — individuals 

 having lived in captivity more than a hundred years. 



ORDER RAPTORES.* 

 General Characteristics. — The canine teeth and power- 

 Thames. It immediately bawled out " A boat ! a boat 1 twenty pounds to save me." 

 A man thinking some one was drowning, threw himself into the river, but was 

 astonished to discover it was only a bird. Finding the king was its master he carried 

 it to him and claimed the promised reward. Henry laughing at the story paid the 

 amount '' with good grace."— Lord Dundonald, in his autobiography, says that once 

 some ladies were being hoisted up the sides of a vessel by means of a chair suspend- 

 ed by a rope. Two or three had been safely deposited on deck, when, as the chair 

 was just starting again, a parrot shouted out '' Let go I" The sailors, thinking it the 

 boatswain's order, dropped the rope, and away went the poor lady, chair and all, 

 into the sea. 



* The birds of prey do not deserve the name of " robbers." Their camivorouB 

 propensities are only in accordance with their physiological structure, which de- 



