CAROLINA PARROT. 
119 
ftttits. That food which the paroquet prefers to all 
?'’ers is the seeds of the cockle bur, a plant rarely 
r“nd in the lower parts of Pennsylvania or New York ; 
7^ Which unfortunately "rows in too preat ahundanee 
^“'‘g thc shores of the (fhioand Mississippi, so much so 
to render the wool of those sheep that pasture where 
n 'tiost abounds, scarcely worth t he cleauiup, covering 
t'kim with one solid niiuss of hors, wrought up and 
'^'»edded into the lleece,to the great annoyance of this 
.^’‘lilahle animal. The seeds of the cypress tree and 
“achberry as well as beech nnts, are also great tavourites 
these birds ; tl.e two former ol « lin h are not 
!'’h‘vnonlv found in Pennsylvania, and the latter by no 
so general or so productive. Here, then are 
powerful reasons, more dependent on .soil than 
I'hhate, for the preference given liy these birds to the 
“’'■iriant regions of the west. Penusylvaiiia, iiideed, 
also Maryland, abound witli excellent apiile orchards. 
Hie rine fruit of which the paroipiets occasionally 
1 But 1 have my doubts whether their depredations 
" tile orchard be not as much the result ol waiiton play 
o*'^ mischief, as regard for the seeds of the fruit, which 
are supposed to be in pursuit of. I have kriomi 
of these birds alight on an ajiple tree, and have 
^y**elf seen them tivist olf the fruit, one by one, strewing 
— every direction around the tree, without observing 
tvj*! any of the depredators descended to pick them up. 
a paroquet, which I wounded and kept tor some 
'““siderable time, I very often offered apples, which it 
s,**'formly rejected; but burs, or beech nuts never, 
v^anothor very lieautiful one, ivhich I brmmlit tiom 
Orleans, and which is now sitting in the room 
.faide me 1 have frequently ottered this fiuit, and 
f ’*0 the seeds separately, which 1 never knew it to 
'-aste, I'lmir local attachments, also, prove that food, 
than climate, deterniiiies tlieiiM hoicc of country, 
even in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, and the 
^'ssissippi territory, unless in the neighbourhood of 
places as have been described, it is rare to see 
‘“em. The inhabitants of Lexington, as many of them 
