CAROLINA PARROT. 
115 
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 colors and 
markings are nearly the same. 
■ The young birds of the preceding year, of both sexes, 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 growai 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 kille<l about the last of that month, only a few green 
feathers remained among tlie yellow ; and these were fast assuming the 
yellow tint; for the color changes without change of plumage. 
Wliat is called by Europeans the Illinois Parrot [Psittacus pertinax), 
is evidently the young bird in its imperfect colors. Whether the present 
species be found as far south as Brazil, as these Avriters pretend, I am 
unable to say ; but from the great extent of country in which I have 
myself killed and examined these birds, I am satisfied that the present 
species, now described, is the only one inhabiting the United States. 
Since the foregoing was written, I have had an opportunity, by the 
death of a tame Carolina Paroquet, to ascertain the fact of the 
poisonous elfects of their head and intestines on cats. Having shut up 
a cat and her two kittens (the latter only a few days old), in a room 
with the head, neck, and whole intestines of the Paroquet, I found on 
the next morning the whole eaten, except a small part of the bill. The 
cat exhibited no symptom of sickness ; and at this moment, three days 
after the experiment has been made, she and her kittens are in their 
usual health. Still, however, the effect might have been different, had 
the daily food of the bird been cockle burrs, instead of Indian corn. 
Note. — From Mr. T. Peale, who was attached to the expedition com- 
manded by Major Long, I learn, that during the time the party wintered 
at Engineer Cantonment, nearly eight hundred miles up the Missouri, 
they observed this species, at various periods, from the beginning of 
December, until the middle of February, although the thermometer 
(Fahrenheit) once sunk as low as 22° below zero. Mr. Peale is of 
opinion that the Paroquet migrates rather in quest of food, than in 
consequence of the cold. Being, like the Wild Pigeon, a bird of vigorous 
wing, and of a roving disposition, a journey of a few hundred miles can 
occasion it but a very little trouble. — Cr. Orel. 
