MADAGASOAB LOVE-BIBB. 
137 
mate from tlie crop, even when she is shut up in a closely-wired cage. 
If placed in another room^ he frets and mopes.” 
The following account of the members of the Parrot family whose 
nesting arrangements differ from that of the great majoi’ity of their 
congeners, has been compiled for us by our friend Mrs. Cassirer, and 
will be read with interest; — 
“The Glaucous Macaw {Psittacus glaiicus, Vll.), Ara hleudtre, Ara 
gris-bleu in French, German — Per Meerblaue Arara, nests in banks of 
streams, where he scrapes out a burrow with his powerful beak, as 
well as in holes of trees. 
“The Hyacinthine Macaw {Psittacus hyacinthimis, Lthm.), French — 
Ara Maximilwn, German — Per liyazinthhlaue Arara, or Grosser hlaue 
Arara, nests in hollows in banks, which the birds scrape out with their 
beaksj two eggs only are laid, and there are two broods in the season. 
“The authorities for the above departures from the usual habits of 
the race are Azara and Dr. Euss. 
“Muller's Parrot {Psittacus Mulleri, Tmmk.), French — Perroquet de 
Muller, German — Muller’s Edelpapagei, also WeissscJmahel papagei : hol- 
low places in rugged, inaccessible crags or cliffs are said to be used 
as nesting places; brood unknown. 
“Authorities Dr. Meyer, Dr. Platen, Wallare and Yon Eosenberg, 
quoted by Dr. Euss. 
“Patagonian Conure {Psittacus Patagonus, Yll.), in contrast to all 
his relatives, and in general to almost all Parrots, this Parrot does 
not nest in trees, but in burrows in precipitous rocks. C. F. Poppig 
gives the following interesting description of one of their numerous 
colonies in Chili: — 'The uninitiated’, he says, ‘must be greatly aston- 
ished at these social settlements. After a toilsome march, towards 
noon one approaches a perpendicular cliff, and believes oneself in utter 
solitude; the deepest stillness reigns around, an indication of noontide 
in all the warmer regions of America, most of the animals being asleep 
at the time; a sort of grunting soon becomes audible; but in vain 
one endeavours to discover the animals which might probably produce 
it. Suddenly the "warning cry of a Parrot is heard; it is caught up 
and repeated by many others, and before one can quite understand 
the matter, one is surrounded by flocks of those quarrelsome birds, 
which fly in narrow circles round the wanderer, and threaten to attack 
him in seeming anger. Out of the numerous holes in the rock, peer 
forth, comically enough, the round heads of the Parrots, and those 
which do not fly out, at least take part in the commotion by loud 
screams. Each hole indicates a nest, which has been burrowed out by 
the owners in the strata of clay which intersect the cliffs, and one may. 
