THE CAROLINA PARROT. 



99 



gated ; the feet short and robust ; the tarsus scaly 

 all round ; the bill, along the ridge, measures one and 

 one-twelfth of an inch ; the gap, measured from the 

 tip of the lower mandible, one half inch ; the tarsus 

 five-sixths, the middle toe one and one quarter of an 

 inch. 



" The female differs very little, in her colours and 

 markings from the male. After examining numerous 

 specimens, the following appear to be the principal 

 differences. The yellow on the neck of the female 

 does not descend quite so far ; the interior vanes of 

 the primaries are brownish, instead of black, and the 

 orange red on the bend and edges of the wing is 

 considerably narrower ; in other respects, the colours 

 and markings are nearly the same. 



" The young birds of the preceding year, of both 

 Bexes, are generally destitute of the yellow on the 

 head and neck, until about the beginning or middle 

 of March, having those parts wholly green, except 

 the front and cheeks, which are orange red in them 

 as in the full grown birds. Towards the middle of 

 March the yellow begins to appear, in detached 

 feathers, interspersed among the green, varying in 

 different individuals. In some which I killed about 

 the last of that month, only a few green feathers 

 remained among the yellow; and these were fast 

 assuming the yellow tint: for the colour changes 

 without change of plumage. A number of these 

 birds, in all their grades of progressive change from 

 green to yellow, have been deposited in Mr Peale's 

 museum. 



