OF THE UNITED STATES 253 



is engaged upon the task of making a photographic picture of a 

 form, living examples of which will cease to be within possibly 

 I he span of his own lifetime. There are not a few hand paintings 

 or drawings of the Carolina paroquet extant, but I very much 

 doubt that anyone has, as yet, made and published photographs 

 of them; certainly not as they have been perched upon twigs of 

 (he Xanthium. 



Upon taking the cage containing these birds into the room 

 prepared for my work, they exhibited a very considerable amount 

 of restlessness, and when they came to understand that 1 in- 

 tended to let them out, they at once showed a high degree of ex- 

 citement. Screaming hardly expresses the nature of their pene- 

 trating notes, that could easily be heard a square away. After 

 receiving several severe bites through the fingers of a thick pair 

 of gloves, wherewith I had undertaken to protect my hands, they 

 were finally turned loose in the room. Here they flew about in 

 (he wildest possible manner, despite all iny efforts to quiet them 

 down; alighting on the tops of the window curtains, the camera, 

 and even my own person, and were not content until they had 

 knocked over the stand containing the bunch of cockleburs. 

 Next — whang! they both flew against the big window pane, and 

 then down on the floor, only to waddle off and try to climb up the 

 legs of my tripod. 



Quietly putting things to rights again, I waited in patience 

 for a subsidence of their excitement, when to my intense satis- 

 faction they both flew from the top of the door and lit on the 

 cockleburs, as I wanted them. Here was new trouble for me, 

 however, for the presence of their favorite food set them off 

 again, and I thought they would pull off every single seed pod be- 

 fore I could get a snap on them. Trial after trial was now made 

 without success, and three or four hours had passed without a 

 good result, and, as the light was going fast, I determined to try 

 a single bird, rather than not have anything. The result of this 

 attempt is reproduced as an illustration to the present chapter, 

 and it gives a very good idea of the form of our Conurus. To get 

 the brilliant red and yellow of the head and the bright green 

 body is of course out of the question in a photograph. What 

 may be done in this way in years to come is another matter, and 

 one of the problems for solution by the photographer of the 

 future. 



The following two or three days were cloudy, and so my plans 



