CAROLINA PARROT. 115 



male. After examining numerous specimens, the following appear to 

 be the principal differences. The yellow on the neck of the female 

 does not descend quite so far ; the interior vanes of the primaries are 

 brownish instead of black ; and the orange red on the bend and edges 

 of the wing is considerably narrower ; in other respects the colors and 

 markings are nearly the same. 



The young birds of the preceding year, of both sexes, are generally 

 destitute of the yellow on the head and neck, until about the beginning 

 or middle of March, having those parts wholly green, except the front 

 and cheeks, which are orange red in them, as in the full grown birds. 

 Towards the middle of March, the yellow begins to appear in detached 

 feathers, interspersed among the green, varying in different individuals. 

 In some which I killed about the last of that month, only a few green 

 feathers remained among the yellow ; and these were fast assuming the 

 yellow tint; for the color changes without change of plumage. 



What is called by Europeans the Illinois Parrot [Psittacus pertinax), 

 is evidently the young bird in its imperfect colors. Whether the present 

 species be found as far south as Brazil, as these writers pretend, I am 

 unable to say; but from the great extent of country in which I have 

 myself killed and examined these birds, I am satisfied that the present 

 species, now described, is the only one inhabiting the United States. 



Since the foregoing was written, I have had an opportunity, by the 

 death of a tame Carolina Paroquet, to ascertain the fact of the 

 poisonous effects of their head and intestines on cats. Having shut up 

 a cat and her two kittens (the latter only a few days old), in a room 

 with the head, neck, and whole intestines of the Paroquet, I found on 

 the next morning the whole eaten, except a small part of the bill. The 

 cat exhibited no symptom of sickness ; and at this moment, three days 

 after the experiment has been made, she and her kittens are in their 

 usual health. Still, however, the effect might have been different, had 

 the daily food of the bird been cockle burrs, instead of Indian corn. 



N^ote. — From Mr. T. Peale, who was attached to the expedition com- 

 manded by Major Long, I learn, that during the time the party wintered 

 at Engineer Cantonment, nearly eight hundred miles up the Missouri, 

 they observed this species, at various periods, from the beginning of 

 December, until the middle of February, although the thermometer 

 (Fahrenheit) once sunk as low as 22° below zero. Mr. Peale is of 

 opinion that the Paroquet migrates rather in quest of food, than in 

 consequence of the cold. Being, like the Wild Pigeon, a bird of vigorous 

 wing, and of a roving disposition, a journey of a few hundred miles can 

 occasion it but a very little trouble. — Cr. Ord. 



