16 THE PARROT TRIBES. 
been made to account for the existence of such eminently hot- 
climate birds in a region where, at certain seasons of the year, 
ice and snow prevail, but among them all the following seems 
most feasible. “ It is not to be ascribed to a milder climate 
prevailing in these parts so mnch as to the existence of 
certain peculiar features of country, to which these birds are 
particularly and strongly attached. These are low, rich, allu- 
vial bottoms, along the borders of creeks covered with a gigantic 
growth of sycamore-trees or button-wood, deep and almost 
impenetrable swamps where the vast and towering cypresses 
lift their still more majestic heads, and those singular salines, 
or as they are called licks, so regularly interspersed over that 
country, and which are regularly and eagerly visited by the 
parrakeets.” # 
The Carolina parrakeet averages aboutfourteen inches in length 
from the base of its beak to its tail tip. The ground colour of 
the bird is vivid emerald green dashed with purple and blue. 
The forehead and cheeks are orange red, and the rest of the 
head and neck gamboge. The body and under parts are a 
delicate yellowish green. The tail is green, tinged with orange 
red. The beak of this parrakeet is rounded and very hard and 
strong, and if it gets a fair chance to bite, you may depend it 
will not neglect it. 
In a natural state the parrakeets of Carolina are exceedingly 
sociable and kind one to another. They fly in large flocks, 
and roost in companies thirty or forty strong in the inside of 
a hollow tree, or other convenient shelter. To companions in 
misfortune, they manifest the utmost sympathy, as the following 
instance quoted from Wilson’s “ American Ornithology,” 
will serve to show. 
“ At Big Bone lick, thirty miles from Kentucky river, I 
saw them in great numbers. They came screaming through 
the woods in the morning about an hour before sunrise, to 
drink the salt water, of which they, as well as the pigeons are 
remarkably fond. When they alighted on the ground, it 
appeared at a distance as if covered with a carpet of the richest 
green, orange, and yellow ; they afterwards settled in one body 
in a neighbouring tree, which stood detached from any other, 
covering almost every twig of it, and the sun shining strongly 
on their gay and glossy plumage, produced a very beautiful 
and splendid appearance. Here I had an opportunity of observ- 
ing some very particular traits of their characters. Having 
shot down a number, some of which were only wounded, the 
