EXPEDITION TO SURINAM. * 



which are of a pale red. This bird is crowned with -Sipa- 

 nqfloe or bunch of feathers, and which generally lie back- 

 ward, but which it ere6ts at pleafure, when it is irritated 

 or afraid. 



I have alfo feen in Surinam a parrot of a deep flate 

 blue colour, though not like thofe that come from the 

 coaft of Guinea, which are rather of a lead-grey. This 

 parrot is faid to be very fcarce, and only inhabits the 

 deepefl recefles of the foreft, whence it is brought to Pa- 

 ramaribo by the Indians : this bird is lefs than the com- 

 mon parrot, but appears very ftrong and lively. The 

 moft common parrots in Guiana are thofe which Marc- 

 grave calls ajuriicura, Thefe birds are not fo large as 

 thofe that come from Africa ; they are green, with the 

 breaft and belly a pale yellow ; on the top of the head 

 they have a blue fpot, and the feet are grey, with four 

 toes like the reft of the genus, two before and two be- 

 hind ; in the wings they have fome feathers of a bright 

 blue, and fome a deep crimfon ; they are more a nuifance 

 than a pleafure in Surinam, where, in prodigious flocks, 

 they perch amongft the coffee, maize, rice, &c. and commit 

 great devaftations ; and what makes them a ftill greater 

 nuifance, their fhrieking noife is almoft infvipportable. 

 They always fly in pairs, and very fwift, towards the eaft, 

 as I have obferved, meeting the fun in the morning, and 

 toward the weft they follow it in the evening : they ge- 

 nerally breed in remote places and lay two eggs. I 

 brought down two of thefe parrots at a fhot when I was 



at 



