110 
CAROLINA PARROT. 
Their local attachments also prove that food more than climate deter- 
mines their choice of country. For even in the states of Ohio, Ken- 
tucky, and the Mississippi territory, unless in the neighborhood of such 
places as have been described, it is rare to see them. The inhabitants 
of Lexington, as many of them assured me, scarcely ever observe them 
in that quarter. In passing from that place to Nashville, a distance of 
two hundred miles, I neither heard nor saw any, but at a place called 
Madison's Lick. In passing on, I next met with them on the banks and 
rich flats of the Tennessee river ; after this I saw no more till I reached 
Bayo St. Pierre, a distance of several hundred miles ; from all which 
circumstances, I think we cannot, from the residences of these birds, 
establish with propriety, any correct standard by which to judge of the 
compa-rative temperatures of different climates. 
In descending the river Ohio, by myself, in the month of February, I 
met with the first flock of Paroquets at the mouth of the Little Scioto. 
I had been informed, by an old and respectable inhabitant of Marietta, 
that they were sometimes, though rarely, seen there. I observed flocks 
of them, afterwards, at the mouth of the Great and Little Miami, and 
in the neighborhood of numerous creeks, that discharge themselves into 
the Ohio. At Big-Bone Lick, thirty miles above the mouth of Ken- 
tucky river, I saw them in great numbers. They came screaming 
through the woods in the morning, about an hour after sunrise, to drink 
the salt water, of which they, as well as the pigeons, are remarkably 
fond. When they alighted on the ground, it appeared, at a distance, as 
if covered with a carpet of the richest green, orange and yellow. They 
afterwards settled, in one body, on a neighboring tree, which stood de- 
tached from any other, covering almost every twig of it, and the sun 
shining strongly on their gay and glossy plumage, produced a very beau- 
tiful and splendid appearance. Here I had an opportunity of observing 
some very particular traits of their character. Having shot doAvn a 
number, some of which were only wounded, the whole flock swept re- 
peatedly around their prostrate coriipanions, and again settled on a low 
tree, within twenty yards of the spot where I stood. At each successive 
discharge, though showers of them fell, yet the affection of the survi- 
vors seemed rather to increase ; for after a few circuits around the place, 
they again alighted near me, looking down on their slaughtered compa- 
nions, with such manifest symptoms of sympathy and concern, as entirely 
disarmed me. I could not but take notice of the remarkable contrast 
between their elesrant manner of flight, and their lame and crawling gait 
among the branches. They fly very much like the Wild Pigeoff, in close, 
compact bodies, and with great rapidity, making a loud and outrageous 
screaming, not unlike that of the Red-headed Woodpecker. Their flight 
is sometimes in a direct line ; but most usually circuitous, making a great 
variety of elegant and easy serpentine meanders, as if for pleasure. 
