52 OBEY PARROT. 



dark, and having to pass the night in the open air, it was time to 

 take steps to make our sojourn in the forest as comfortable as possible. 

 A fire being the first necessity, we left our shelter in order to gather 

 some of the dead palm-leaves that layabout; as we emerged from our 

 coverts the Parrots perceived us, and in a moment the whole place 

 was ringing with their deafening screams. The fire was soon made, 

 and, burning up quickly, it cast a cheerful light arid warmth around 

 the spot, rendering our bivouac more agreeable; and the Parrots, at- 

 tracted by the unusual sight, kept flying over and around the place 

 thus illuminated. An hour afterwards, quiet been restored, we proceeded 

 to get our supper, consisting of roasted bananas; this being finished, 

 we dried some moss to serve for a bed and retired; but the night was 

 so cold, and the mosquitos kept stinging my face so pertinaciously, 

 that it was impossible to sleep; so I got up and roasted some more 

 bananas, smoked a pipe, and then felt quite ready to go in pursuit 

 of the birds. My companion was sleeping soundly, apparently undis- 

 turbed by those causes that deprived me of my sleep. As it wanted 

 some three hours of daylight I occupied myself in preparing limed 

 sticks and making snares. On the appearance of the first streak of 

 dawn we proceeded to the tree where a nest was suspected to be; my 

 black man, being a capital climber, went up to the hole, and looking 

 in found two young Parrots, which he carefully tied up in a pocket- 

 handkerchief and lowered down to me: the little things seemed to be 

 about a fortnight old, and readily took some banana I offered them. 

 The old birds were absent, probably seeking food; at least we did not 

 see them. The two young ones we fastened with string to the trunk 

 of the tree, and placed some limed sticks round about them. In this 

 way we caught one of the parent birds, the securing of which was a 

 matter of some difficulty, owing to the resistance it made. We put 

 the freshly caught old bird in a linen bag, and fastened it beside the 

 young ones. In a few minutes our captive began to turn round and 

 round, at the same time screaming vociferously: this quickly attracted 

 the attention of the Parrots in the neighbourhood, which came near, 

 gazing with astonishment at the bag which contained their mysteriously 

 hidden comrade. One more bold than the rest flew down and settled 

 on a lime stick, but its struggles were so violent that it succeeded in 

 getting away. I then took my gun and shot two individuals, the 

 others immediately taking flight. 



"On the same morning we discovered two more nests: one of them 

 contained three very young birds; the other had only one egg. My 

 man had previously laid some snares, but no birds had been caught. 

 We then searched about among the trees in this part of the Pico de 



