MADAGASCAR LOVE-BIBD. 137 



mate from the crop, even when she is shut up in a closely-wired cage. 

 If placed in another room, he frets and mopes." 



The following account of the members of the Parrot family whose 

 nesting arrangements differ from that of the great majority of their 

 congeners, has been compiled for us by our friend Mrs. Cassirer, and 

 will be read with interest: — 



"The Glaucous Macaw (Psittacus glaucus, Yll.), Ara bleuatre, Ara 

 gris-bleu in French, German — Per Meerhlaue Arara, nests in banks of 

 streams, where he scrapes out a burrow with his powerful beak, as 

 well as in holes of trees. 



"The Hyacinthine Macaw {Psittacus hyacinthinus, Lthm.), French — 

 Ara Maximilien, German — Per hyazinthblane Arara, or Grosser blaue 

 Arara, nests in hollows in banks, which the birds scrape out with their 

 beaks; two eggs only are laid, and there are two broods in the season. 



"The authorities for the above departures from the usual habits of 

 the race are Azara and Dr. Russ. 



"Mulleins Parrot (Psittacus Mulleri, Tmmk.), French — Perroquet de 

 Muller, German — Mutter's Edelpapagei, also Weissschnabel papagei: hol- 

 low places in rugged, inaccessible crags or cliffs are said to be used 

 as nesting places; brood unknown. 



"Authorities Dr. Meyer, Dr. Platen, Wallare and Yon Rosenberg, 

 quoted by Dr. Russ. 



"Patagonian Oonure (Psittacus Patagonus, Yll.), in contrast to all 

 his relatives, and in general to almost all Parrots, this Parrot does 

 not nest in trees, but in burrows in precipitous rocks. C. F. Poj>pig 

 gives the following interesting description of one of their numerous 

 colonies in Chili: — 'The uninitiated'', he says, f must be greatly aston- 

 ished at these social settlements. After a toilsome march, towards 

 noon one approaches a perpendicular cliff, and believes oneself in utter 

 solitude; the deepest stillness reigns around, an indication of noontide 

 in all the warmer regions of America, most of the animals being asleep 

 at the time; a sort of grunting soon becomes audible; but in vain 

 one endeavours to discover the animals which might probably produce 

 it. Suddenly the warning cry of a Parrot is heard; it is caught up 

 and repeated by many others, and before one can quite understand 

 the matter, one is surrounded by flocks of those quarrelsome birds, 

 which fly in narrow circles round the wanderer, and threaten to attack 

 him in seeming anger. Out of the numerous holes in the rock, peer 

 forth, comically enough, the round heads of the Parrots, and those 

 which do not fly out, at least take part in the commotion by loud 

 screams. Each hole indicates a nest, which has been burrowed out by 

 the owners in the strata of clay which intersect the cliffs, and one may, 



