THE CAROLINA PARROT. 307 



almost every kind of fruit indiscriminately, and on this account is always an 

 unwelcome visiter to the planter, the farmer, or the gardener. The stacks 

 of grain put up in the field are resorted to by flocks of these birds, which 

 frequentty cover them so entirely, that they present to the eye the same 

 effect as if a brilliantly coloured carpet had been thrown over them. They 

 cling around the whole stack, pull out the straws, and destroy twice as much 

 of the grain as would suffice to satisfy their hunger. They assail the pear 

 and apple-trees, when the fruit is yet very small and far from being ripe, 

 and this merely for the sake of the seeds. As on the stalks of corn, they 

 alight on the apple-trees of our orchards, or the pear-trees in the gardens, in 

 great numbers; and, as if through mere mischief, pluck off the fruits, open 

 them up to the core, and, disappointed at the sight of the seeds, which are 

 yet soft and of a milky consistence, drop the apple or pear, and pluck 

 another, passing from branch to branch, until the trees which were before so 

 promising, are left completely stripped, like the ship water-logged and 

 abandoned by its crew, floating on the yet agitated waves, after the tempest 

 has ceased. They visit the mulberries, pecan-nuts, grapes, and even the 

 seeds of the dog-wood, before they are ripe, and on all commit similar 

 depredations. The maize alone never attracts their notice. 



Do not imagine, reader, that all these outrages are borne without severe 

 retaliation on the part of the planters. So far from this, the Parakeets are 

 destroyed in great numbers, for whilst busily engaged in plucking off the 

 fruits or tearing the grain from the stacks, the husbandman approaches them 

 with perfect ease, and commits great slaughter among them. All the sur- 

 vivors rise, shriek, fly round about for a few minutes, and again alight on the 

 very place of most imminent danger. The gun is kept at work; eight or 

 ten, or even twenty, are killed at every discharge. The living birds, as if 

 conscious of the death of their companions, sweep over their bodies, scream- 

 ing as loud as ever, but still return to the stack to be shot at, until so few 

 remain alive, that the farmer does not consider it worth his while to spend 

 more of his ammunition. I have seen several hundreds destroyed in this 

 manner in the course of a few hours, and have procured a basketful of these 

 birds at a few shots, in order to make choice of good specimens for drawing 

 the figures by which this species is represented in the plate now under your 

 consideration. 



The flight of the Parakeet is rapid, straight, and continued through the 

 forests, or over fields and rivers, and is accompanied by inclinations of the 

 body which enable the observer to see alternately their upper and under 

 parts. They deviate from a direct course only when impediments occur, 

 such as the trunks of trees or houses, in which case they glance aside in a 

 very graceful manner, merely as much as may be necessary. A general cry 



