370 THE CAROLINA PAROQUET. 



appearing rather awkward in confinement, where their movements were 

 restricted, the birds moved easily through the branches of a tree, now swing- 

 ing head downward to reach a drooping seed, now regaining the perch by 

 the aid of the powerful beak, which was used as a third (or^first) hand. 



The birds were very noisy, especially during flight and at meals, scream- 

 ing and chattering like nothing else in all the wood. But during the middle 

 of the day they rested silently in the dense forest, or cooed tenderly if it were 

 the mating season. Their favorite food was the cockle-burr {Xanthium 

 canadeu.se) which grows abundantly in low places. Besides this they ate 

 wild fruit of many kinds, — persimmons, wild grapes, pawpaws, — as well 

 as beech nuts, acorns, and ' the round seed-ball of the sycamore. When 

 the settlers came, wheat in the milk was found to be very toothsome, and 

 the bounties of the orchard irresistible. If reports are true these gay Phil- 

 istines did not always stop when their bellies were full but sometimes 

 wantonly destroyed the growing crops of our hard-working fathers. 



Toward evening the companies retired to the seclusion of great hollow 

 trees, mostly sycamores, where they "hung out," or rather hung up, for 

 the night. The great beak, which did duty for both hands and face day- 

 times, must needs render additional service, as a hammock-hook, at ni^ht. 

 It was in hollow trees also that they nested, according to the most reliable 

 of the accounts which have come down to us. In comparatively recent 

 times Mr. Brewster has established the fact on good authority that they 

 breed, at least in the South, in colonies in cypress trees, — the nest being 

 a mere bunch of sticks placed at the forks of horizontal limbs, and contain- 

 ing, as is supposed, up to four or five white eggs. It is still probable, how- 

 ever, that in the Middle States they once nested as described by Audubon 

 and Wilson. 



Many strange stories are told of this bird which, at this late date, it is 

 impossible definitely to discredit or verify. Here is one which has the 

 sanction of recent authority. In the "Birds of Indiana," Prof. A. W. Butler 

 publishes the following paragraph, as supplied to him by Prof. John Collett : 

 "In 1842, Return Richmond, of Lodi (Parke County), Indiana, cut down 

 in the cold weather of winter a sycamore tree some four feet in diameter. 

 In its hollow trunk he found hundreds of Parakeets in a quiescent or semi- 

 torpid condition. The weather was too cold for the birds to fly, or even 

 to make any exertion to escape. Mr. Richmond cut off with his saw a section 

 of the hollow trunk some five feet long, cut out a doorway one foot by two 

 in size, nailed over it a wire screen of his fanning-mill, rolled this cumber- 

 some cage into the house and placed in it a dozen of the birds. They soon 

 began to enjoy the feed of fruit, huckleberries and nuts he gave them, and 

 he had the pleasure of settling absolutely the question of how they slept. 

 At night they never rested on a perch, but suspended themselves by their 



