380 
CAROLINA PARROT. 
Lick. In passing on, I next met with them on the banks and 
rich flats of the Tennesee river : after this, I saw no more 
till I reached Bayo St Pierre, a distance of several hundred 
miles : from all which circumstances, I think we cannot, from 
the residences of these birds, establish with propriety any 
correct standard by which to judge of the comparative tem- 
peratures of different climates. 
In descending the river Ohio, by myself, in the month of 
February, I met witli the first flock of Paroquets, at the 
mouth of the Little Scioto. I had been informed, by an old 
and respectable inhabitant of Marietta, that they were some- 
times, though rarely, seen there. I observed flocks of them, 
afterwards, at the mouth of the Great and Little Miami, and 
in the neighbourhood of numerous creeks that discharge them- 
selves into the Ohio. At Big Bone Lick, thirty miles above 
the mouth of Kentucky river, I saw them in great numbers. 
They came screaming through the woods in the morning, 
about an hour after 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, on 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 observing some 
very particular traits of their character : Having shot down a 
number, some of which were only wounded, the whole flock 
swept repeatedly around their prostrate companions, and again 
settled on a low tree, within twenty yards of the spot where I 
stood. At each successive discharge, though showers of them 
fell, yet the affection of the survivors seemed rather to increase ; 
for, after a few circuits around the place, they again alighted 
near me, looking down on their slaughtered companions with 
such manifest symptoms of sympathy and concern, as entirely 
disarmed me. I could not but take notice of the remarkable 
