58 
SENEGAL PARROT. 
hen, he proved much more amiable: they did not, however, breed. 
“Sometimes a young Black-headed Parrot will become very tame, 
and, according to a communication from Herr Yon Schlechtendal, also 
very amiable; while others assert that he learns to speak a little. Prom 
fear and nervousness he utters a curious grating sound, but when 
greatly terrified a shrill, whistling scream. During the breeding season 
he executes a strange love-dance. ” — Handbook, page 246-7. 
To a friend, Mrs. Cassirer, of Paris, we are indebted for the following 
translation from the same author's Die Sprechenden Papageien, of a 
further account of the bird under consideration: — 
“The Orange-bellied Long-winged Parrot, ( Psittacus senegalus, L., 
Mohrenhopf-Papagei, Perroquet de Senegal, Perroquet a tete noire, 
Senegal Langvleugel-Papegaai,) the pretty Mohrenkopf, as it is almost 
exclusively termed, belongs to the commonest birds of commerce, and 
reaches us regularly every year in considerable numbers. It must also 
be included among those birds which have long been known to us, 
for it is mentioned in 1445 by Aloysius Cada Mosto, and described 
by Brisson in 1760. 
“The adult male bird is either brownish or blackish grey on the 
head, cheeks, and upper part of the throat; the back, rump, and upper 
tail coverts are glossy grass green, the pinions olive green brown; 
the wing coverts green with brown centres; the shoulders and small 
wing coverts on the under side are yellow; the tail, and all the rest 
of the upper side are bright grass green, which is also the colour of 
the throat and upper breast; the remainder of the under side is yellow; 
the breast and belly are orange, or the colour of red-lead; the under 
tail coverts are yellow; the beak is dark horn grey, merging into 
blackish brown; the cere is blackish, the iris sulphur yellow, to dark 
brown; a blackish ring of naked skin surrounds the eye, the feet are 
blackish brown, and the nails black. 
“The female has the head a light brownish grey, her underside is 
a uniform yellow, without any orange red; her under tail coverts are 
yellowish green; and in other respects she resembles the male, but is 
smaller; in size she scarcely equals a Daw. Length 26 — 28 c., wings 
14.5 — 15.7 c., tail 5.7 to 6.7 c. 
“Habitat West Africa and Senegambia, but probably extends deep 
into Central Africa. Very little information has been received hitherto 
as to its mode of life while at liberty. In families of about six in 
number they frequent the gigantic monkey-bread trees, and betray 
themselves at every approach by piercing screams. Though awkward 
at rising up, and settling down, they fly swift as arrows. The mode 
of nidification has not yet been observed. After the nesting season 
