Carolina Parakeet in Carolinas 95 



when flying to feeding and roosting stations. 



Evidently Hollie had failed to produce any birds on another visit by 

 Sprunt in March 1938 (correspondence is missing). He did, allegedly 

 with some reluctance, report to Sprunt in mid-November that he had 

 seen parakeets in early June: two adults and what was presumably a 

 young one "being taught to fly." The adults were reported to have raised 

 quite a chatter. Sprunt thought this significant, for Hollie was "rather 

 deaf, and . . . the noise made by the birds must have been considerable 

 for him to hear it." Hollie had seen a lone adult — "One of those same 

 birds" — on the first of September. He had reported neither incident to 

 Sprunt spontaneously, not wanting to "stir up things again."' By that 

 time, however, the Shokeses were not in Audubon hire, the Santee 

 Sanctuary had been discontinued, and Hollie was anxious to have em- 

 ployment. 



What it all adds up to is difficult to calculate, but I find it hard to share 

 Laycock's conclusion with enthusiasm. On the other hand, in the years 

 since 1940 various reports of surviving parakeets have come to Sprunt and 

 others. Nothing worthwhile ever evolved from any of them. It must be 

 said, however, that nobody investigates them wholeheartedly — such re- 

 ports are now filed (or referred) and forgotten. It is as if the hot potatoes 

 and burned fingers of one generation deter those who come later from 

 taking a chance. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Alston, J. Motte. 1953. Rice Planter and Sportsman; the Recollections of J. Motte 

 Alston, 1821-1909. Univ. South Carolina Press, Columbia, xviii + 148 pp. 



American Ornithologists' Union. 1939. Report of the committee on bird pro- 

 tection, 1938. Auk 56:212-219. 



Anon. 1941. (Alleged rediscovery of parakeets.) Time 38(7): 50, 18 August. 



Ashe, Thomas (supposed author, signed "T. A., Gent."). 1682. Carolina or a 

 description of the present state of that country. London. See: Salley, 

 1911, pp. 135-159. 



Atkinson, George F. 1887. Preliminary catalogue of the birds of North Carolina, 

 with notes on some of the species. J. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc. 4:44-87. 



Audubon, John J. 1834. Ornithological Biography, or an Account of the Habits of 

 the Birds of the United States of America. Vol. 2. Author, Philadelphia. 



1839. A Synopsis of the Birds of North America. A. & C. Black, Edin- 

 burgh, xii + 359 pp. 



Baker, John H. 1938. Rumors of Carolina paroquets not substantiated. Bird-Lore 

 40:93. 



Bartram, William. 1958. The Travels of William Bartram. Ed. by Francis Har- 

 per. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, lxi + 727 pp. (First publ. 1791.) 



Bent, Arthur C. 1940. Life histories of North American cuckoos, goatsuckers, 

 hummingbirds and their allies. U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 176. viii + 506 pp. 



