426 
RURAL HOURS. 
Shall sucb a bond be severed by distempered passions ? Let 
us be on our guard, lest the evil be brought about by small an- 
tagonist parties whose sympathies are not loyal to the nation at 
large. History may teach us that small parties are often very 
dangerous, and nowhere more so than in republics. 
^ % Hi % ^ % ^ 
It is well known that we have in the southern parts of the 
country a member of the Parrot tribe, the Carolina Parakeet. 
It is a handsome bird, and interesting from being the only one of 
its family met with in a temperate climate of the Northern Hemis- 
phere. They are found in great numbers as far north as Virginia, 
on the Atlantic coast ; beyond the Alleghanies, the}^ spread them- 
selves much farther to the northward, being frequent on the 
banks of the Ohio, and in the neighborhood of St. Louis. They 
are even found along the Illinois, nearly as far north as the shores 
of Lake Michigan. They fly in flocks, noisy and restless, like all 
th3ir brethren ; their coloring is green and orange, with a sliade 
of red about the head. In the Southern States their flesh is 
eaten. Greatly to the astonishment of the good people of Al- 
bany, a large flock of these birds appeared in their neighborhood 
in the year 1795. It is a well-authenticated fact, that a flock of 
Parakeets were observed some twenty-five miles to the northward 
of Albany during that year ; so that we have a right to number 
them among our rare visitors. They have been repeatedly seen 
in the valley of the Juniata, in Pennsylvania. Birds are frequent- 
ly carried about against their will by gales of wind ; the Stormy 
Petrels, for instance, thoroughly aquatic as they are, have been 
found, occasionally, far inland. And in the same way we must 
