58 SENEGAL PARROT. 



hen, he proved much more amiable: they did not, however, breed. 



"Sometimes a young Black-headed Parrot will become very tame, 

 and, according to a communication from Herr Yon Schlechtendal, also 

 very amiable; while others assert that he learns to speak a little. From 

 fear and nervousness he utters a curious grating sound, but when 

 greatly terrified a shrill, whistling scream. During the breeding season 

 he executes a strange love-dance/' — Handbook, page 246-7. 



To a friend, Mrs. Cassirer, of Paris, we are indebted for the following 

 translation from the same author's Die Sprechenden Papageien, of a 

 further account of the bird under consideration: — ■ 



"The Orange-bellied Long-winged Parrot, (Psittacus senegalus, L., 

 Molirenltopf-Papagei, Perroquet de Senegal, Perroquet a tete noire, 

 Senegal Langvleugel-Papegaai,) the pretty Mohrenkopf, as it is almost 

 exclusively termed, belongs to the commonest birds of commerce, and 

 reaches us regularly every year in considerable numbers. It must also 

 be included among those birds which have long been known to us, 

 for it is mentioned in 1445 by Aloysius Cada Mosto, and described 

 by Brisson in 1760. 



"The adult male bird is either brownish or blackish grey on the 

 head, cheeks, and upper part of the throat; the back, rump, and upper 

 tail coverts are glossy grass green, the pinions olive green brown; 

 the wing coverts green with brown centres; the shoulders and small 

 wing coverts on the under side are yellow; the tail, and all the rest 

 of the upper side are bright grass green, which is also the colour of 

 the throat and upper breast; the remainder of the under side is yellow; 

 the breast and belly are orange, or the colour of red-lead; the under 

 tail coverts are yellow; the beak is dark horn grey, merging into 

 blackish brown; the cere is blackish, the iris sulphur yellow, to dark 

 brown; a blackish ring of naked skin surrounds the eye, the feet are 

 blackish brown, and the nails black. 



"The female has the head a light brownish grey, her underside is 

 a uniform yellow, without any orange red; her under tail coverts are 

 yellowish green; and in other respects she resembles the male, but is 

 smaller; in size she scarcely equals a Daw. Length 26 — 28 c, wings 

 14.5—15.7 c, tail 5.7 to 6.7 c. 



"Habitat West Africa and Senegambia, but probably extends deep 

 into Central Africa. Yery little information has been received hitherto 

 as to its mode of life while at liberty. In families of about six in 

 number they frequent the gigantic monkey-bread trees, and betray 

 themselves at every approach by piercing screams. Though awkward 

 at rising up, and settling down, they fly swift as arrows. The mode 

 of nidification has not yet been observed. After the nesting season 



