57 



flENEGAL fgARROT. 



Psittacus senegalus, Linn., Lthm., Khl., etc. 



Synonyms: Psittacus senegalensis, Br.; Psittacus Versteri, Gee.; 



Psittacula senegalensis, Brss.; Pionus senegalus, Wgl.; 



Poicephalus senegalensis, Swns.; 



P otocephalus senegalus et senegalensis, Hrtl.; Phoeocephalus senegalensis, 



Bp.; Pionias senegalus, Fnsch. 



German : Per Mohrenkopf-Papagei, Russ. 



IN" different parts of the world, Africa, America, and Asia, are to 

 be found birds which have received their names from the fact of 

 their being possessed of black heads, but the species now before us, 

 " known in Europe from the most remote period", as Dr. Russ says, 

 "is a handsome bird", and by far the most desirable of them all as 

 a pet. 



" These birds", to quote further from Dr. Russ's description, "must 

 be reckoned among those which have been known in Europe from the 

 earliest times; at present they are regular guests in all the Zoological 

 Gardens, and tolerably frequent at the -dealers. The first pair which 

 I kept in my bird-room were indescribably wild and obstinate; at every 

 approach or even the least movement on the part of the observer they 

 uttered disagreeable piercing shrieks, and every attempt to tame them 

 proved fruitless. However, they took possession of a nesting-box, at 

 first probably as a place of refuge in their timidity and wildness, and 

 commenced nesting. Three very round and disproportionately small 

 eggs were laid, but were soon eaten up by the male; and when the 

 hen laid again and commenced sitting, the monster bit her dead and 

 gnawed her skull. 



"This Black -headed Parrot, however, was so handsome that I could 

 not make up my mind to get rid of him; and when, after some 

 months of solitude and at least partial taming, I gave him a second 



