THE PARROTS iig 



A year or two ago one of these Parrots was sent across 

 the sea to the Zoological Gardens, London, where there 

 had not been an Owl Parrot for over thirty years. It was 

 not long before the new arrival began to act as above 

 described. It was kept in a box half full of straw. When 

 it was taken out by the keeper for some visitor to see, it 

 lost no time in bolting back to its box the moment it was 

 released, and "pulled the clothes over its head." 



The HAWK-HEADED PARROT comes from the 

 forest regions of Central and South America. You will 

 find his gaily-dressed tribe in such places as Honduras and 

 the glorious land of Brazil, through which one of the 

 mightiest of rivers, the Amazon, winds slowly to the 

 Atlantic Ocean. 



He almost needs the sunshine of his native land to 

 bring out the wonderful colours of his plumage with all 

 their sheen and glitter. For, as a friend of mine has said, 

 " the light emerald green of his wings and back turns in 

 shadow to rich bronze and copper ; while the brilliant 

 crimson of his breast and the back of his crested head 

 changes to deep purple." The head of the male bird is 

 white, that of his mate is grey. 



" If anything angers or frightens them, they raise their 

 wonderful ruffs and puflf themselves out in a fury of 

 beautiful shaking plumes, while their orange eyes blaze 

 defiance." For all that, they make very gentle and docile 

 pets. 



Only one more of this branch of the great Parrot 

 family I have space to describe here, and that is the 

 KEA. 



The Kea is a New Zealand bird who seems to have 

 been an inoffensive Parrot enough, until the settlers came 

 and their vast flocks of sheep began to take possession of 



