101 



<f5lJBAN f§ARROT, OR 



^ed-throated ^"hite-$eaded 

 Amazon. 



Psittacus leucocephalus , Lnn. 



Synonyms : Chrysotis leucocephala, Auct. ; Amazona leucocephala , Schlg. • 



Psittacus mar tinicus gutture rubro, Brss. ; P. Paradisi, Sew. Otbs 



German : Der weisskopjige Amazonenpapagei, Bchst. 



French: Perroquet de Cuba, Bee. 



rj^HIS charming bird bears, as we have said, a considerable resemblance 

 -L to its neighbour of Jamaica, from which it is principally 

 distinguished by the black lacing on the feathers of the head and neck 

 and by the red throat. It is also somewhat larger than Collaria, to 

 which it yields in no good quality, while it surpasses it in linguistic 

 attainments. 



It is probably the longest known of any of the American Parrots, 

 having been mentioned by Aldrovandi, though first accurately described 

 by Edwards, and named by Linngeus. Not long since we saw a most 

 graphic portrait of one of these birds in an old oil painting; it was 

 represented leaning forward, with out-stretched wings, from the branch 

 of a tree, to reach a cherry held out to it by a pretty child in the 

 foreground, and had evidently been painted from life. We made a 

 bid for the painting, of which the artist was unknown, but failed, to 

 our regret, to secure it. 



Catesby, from reason unknown, but probably from the combined 

 beauty and gentleness of the creature, named this bird the Paradise 

 Parrot ; and the father of chamber bird-lore waxed unusually eloquent 

 in its praise in his larger work; although in his Naturgeschichte der 

 Stubenvogel, he dismissed it with the summary remark: "This is one 



