GOLDEN-CROWNED CONURE. 89 
although a native of South America , is not very delicate or difficult 
to preserve.” 
This adaptability of South American, species, not only of Parrots, 
and other birds, but of mammals, and plants and trees, to almost every 
variety of conditions in which they happen to be placed, is a curious 
fact to which we have already adverted, though why this should be so 
is a question not very easily or satisfactorily answered: thus the Passion 
flower is so far acclimatised that it grows freely out of doors in this 
country, where it blossoms in profusion, and even matures its golden 
yellow fruit: and the Green and Red-crested Grey Cardinals brave the 
cold of our most severe winters with impunity; while many flowers 
and birds of Southern Europe would perish at the slightest degree 
of frost, although the mean temperature of their native land is not, 
by many degrees, as high as that of Brazil and Demerara. 
The Half-moon Parrakeets are natives of South America, where they 
are common and widely diffused: the nest is made in a hollow branch 
where the female lays two or three white eggs. In the house they 
become very familiar, and are very gentle and desirable birds: Dr. 
Russ relates that a male in his bird-room was so tame that it would 
fly on to his shoulder, and perch on his finger. 
In their native country they do considerable damage to the rice 
crops, and in captivity are to be fed on canary seed, millet and oats 
adding rice in the husk when obtainable: in fact the latter is almost 
a necessity when the birds first arrive in this country, unless they 
have been accustomed to our English seeds on their voyage from their 
native land. 
There is no record of their having as yet bred in Europe, at least 
that we are aware of; but should any of our readers chance either to 
have successfully bred them, or to know of any one who has done 
so, we shall take it as a favour if they will kiudly communicate the 
particulars to us through our Publishers, as it adds much to the 
interest possessed by a species for amateurs if the same has been 
successfully reproduced in captivity. 
The Half-moon, or Golden-Crowned Conure is often confounded with 
the Sun Parrakeet ( Psittacus solsUUalis , Lin.), which is a very different 
bird, although a native of the same country as the Half-moon: the 
ground colour of the Sun Parrakeet is bright citron yellow; the face 
back, breast, and belly are a yellowish brownish red, the wings green 
with yellow, black and blue markings, the beak is black, and the eyes 
reddish yellow, so that the birds can be readily distinguished one from 
the other: though the latter has occasionally been sold as the female 
of the former, we do not insinuate with any intention to defraud his 
