104 



%S? 



^ouble-£ronted 



or Me IPaillant's JImazon. 



m 



Psittacus Le Vaillanti, Russ. 



Chrysotis Le Vaillanti, Ge.; Psittacus ochrocephalus , Lchst. 



Geeman: Der doppelte Gelbkojof, Russ. 



THIS remarkably fine bird rivals the world-renowned Grey Parrot 

 as a mimic, and volumes might be filled with anecdotes, more 

 or less authentic, of its performances in this respect, but cui bono? 

 It is found in the northern portions of South America, including 

 Guiana, Surinam, arid Venezuela. 



A glance at the illustration will give the reader a more perfect 

 idea of the bird, than ten pages of letter-press could do. It is one 

 of the largest of the Chrysotis sub-family of the Psittacidai, consider- 

 ably exceeding in size the Grey Parrot, and approaching that of the 

 Cockatoo, but its short tail, barely four inches in length, gives it 

 the appearance of being a smaller bird than it really is. 



The dense forests of its native land abound in nuts and fruits of 

 many and various kinds upon which the Amazon Parrots subsist for 

 the most part, although not averse to maize, for the sake of which 

 they often make incursions on the cultivated grounds, and pay for 

 their thievish propensities with their liberty, for the cultivators catch 

 them with limed twigs, and forthwith sell them into hopeless slavery. 

 Such Parrots, however, rarely become absolutely tame, and never make 

 good talkers; to educate, thoroughly, one of these creatures it must be 

 brought up from the nest by hand, and by the time it can eat alone 

 it will not only be perfectly familiar with its foster-parent; but have 

 probably learned to repeat some words, if not a sentence or two. 



Like most of the productions of Tropical South America, the Double- 

 fronted Amazon is perfectly hardy, and would certainly become accli- 



