258 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



parrots. This is the Thick-billed Parrot (Rhynchopsitta pachy- 

 rhijncha). On page 330 of the 1895 edition of the A. O. U. Check 

 List, in the "hypothetical list 1 ' of species, we find this form there 

 recorded, with the somewhat remarkable statement beneath it, 

 to the effect that " There is said [sic] to be a specimen in " the 

 collection of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, 

 labeled Rio Grande, Texas, J. W. Audubon, "but there is doubt 

 as to whether the specimen was really taken within the limits of 

 the United States. Its occurrence in Texas is not improbable, 

 but the evidence is unsatisfactory." 



Judging from the name of the collector, I should think the 

 evidence might be both unsatisfactory as well as unreliable, as the 

 compilers of the aforesaid A. O. IT. Check List candidly aver. In 

 reference to the occurrence of this species within the boundaries 

 of this country, I would further say that my attention has been 

 called to what Mr. Robert Ridgway says on page 269 of his 1887 

 edition of A Manual of North American Birds, where that eminent 

 ornithologist states that the species occurs in " southwestern 

 Texas and southern New Mexico." A footnote to this goes to 

 show that from a letter of mine written to Mr. Ridgway, I am 

 held accountable for its having been seen in New Mexico. The 

 words of the letter are not given, nor do I fully recall them, but 

 I do know that personally I never saw the Thick-billed parrot in 

 New Mexico. What I wrote was to the effect that, while serving 

 at Fort Wingate, New Mexico (1884-89), there was at one time a 

 necessity to send a troop of cavalry into southern New Mexico, 

 and Captain Kendall, of the 6th Cavalry, was detailed to the 

 duty. On the return of that officer, he informed me that one 

 morning, when at some considerable distance north of the Mexi- 

 can boundary, he was, while laying in his tent, greatly disturbed 

 by the " infernal noise " created by a flock of parrots, that had 

 " great, big bills," and which nearly covered a tree in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of his camp. This is the only report of the kind 

 that came to me during my entire stay in New Mexico. Captain 

 Kendall knew practically nothing of ornithology, nor had I told 

 him anything about the parrot in question before his leaving, 

 the information coming wholly unsolicited from him upon his re- 

 turn to the Fort. I should have attributed the report to the 

 Captain's having seen a flock of Groove-billed ani (Grotophaga 

 suleirostris) had he not been so positive about their being par- 

 rots, with big bills, with green bodies, with red on their heads. 



