156 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



In the course of a ride to Selma, a little town a few miles 

 distant, I had the pleasure of seeing a flock of parrots (Psitta- 

 cus carolinensis). The bird is not at all common in these parts, 

 and indeed it was the first occasion on which I had ever seen 

 one of this beautiful tribe in a state of wild nature. There were 

 eighty or a hundred in one compact flock, and as they swept 

 past me, screaming as they went, I fancied that they looked 

 like an immense shawl of green satin, on which an irregular 

 pattern was worked in scarlet and gold and azure.* 



Brown, writing from Coosada in 1878, says that this bird 

 was well known to most of the older local sportsmen and is 

 said once to have been common, though none had been seen 

 for many years.f Dr. Avery, in 1890, recorded the bird as 

 formerly common at Greensboro, but not seen for many 

 years.J 



Habits. — Paroquets fed upon various fruits and berries, and 

 sometimes damaged corn or other grain. They were hunted 

 not only as pests, but for their bright plumage. As they 

 traveled much in flocks and were not especially difficult to 

 shoot, they were subject to constant persecution and every- 

 where disappeared shortly after the settlement of the country. 



CUCKOOS, ANIS, ETC.: Family Cuculidae. 



YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO; "RAIN-CROW": Coccyzus 

 americanus americanus (Linnaeus) . 



State records. — The yellow-billed cuckoo is a common and 

 generally distributed summer resident. 



Migrants arrive from the south about the middle of April 

 (Autaugaville, April 16, 1912; April 23, 1913) and depart 

 about the first of October (Autaugaville, October 3, 1915). 

 Nesting begins in May and continues until August, indicat- 

 ing that two or more broods are raised. Eggs have been 

 found at Leighton, May 18 and August 10 (McCormack) ; 

 Autaugaville, June 5 (Golsan) ; Booth, August 11 (Golsan) ; 

 Guntersville, June 18 ; and York, June 24 (Wise) . Holt found 

 a nest with young at Barachias, May 19, 1907. 



•Gosse, P. H., Letters from Alabama, pp. 298, 299, 1859. 

 fBrown, N. C, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, vol. 4, p. 11, 1879. 

 JAmer. Field, vol. 34, p. 608, 1890. 



