PAROQUETS 
317 
of the underparts barred with grayish brown and white in about equal 
amounts. L., 9*00; W., 6*50; T., 3*00; Tar., 1*75. 
Range . — Southern Fla., chiefly in the Kissimmee ‘prairie’ region of 
Osceola, Polk, and DeSoto Counties, and also Manatee County. 
Nest, in a hole in the ground excavated by the bird. Eggs, white, 5-7, 
1*23 X 1*03. Date, Ft. Thompson, Fla., Mch. 26. 
This diurnal Owl is locally abundant in its restricted range. Excel- 
lent accounts of its habits will be found under the following references : 
Rhoads, Auk , IX, 1892, 1-8; Scott, Ibid., 216-218; Palmer, Ibid, 1896, 
100-108. 
The Burrowing Owl (378. Speotyto cunicularia hypogcea), is well known 
in the western United States from the Pacific coast to Minnesota, and 
Louisiana, and from British Columbia, and Manitoba s. to Panama; it is 
migratory north of Oregon and northern Kansas; and accidental in New 
York and Massachusetts. 
XIII. ORDER PSITTACI. PARROTS, MACAWS, PAROQUETS, 
COCKATOOS 
40. Family Psittacid^e. Parrots and Paroquets. (Fig. 51.) 
The order Psittaci is divided into six families containing, in all, 
about five hundred and sixty species. The American species, some one 
hundred and ninety in number, are included in the present family 
which has also about two hundred and forty members in the Old World. 
With the exception of the Thick-billed Parrot ( Rhynchopsitta pachy - 
rhyncha ), which rarely enters Arizona from Mexico, the Carolina 
Paroquet is the only species inhabiting the United States, and it is not 
found south of our boundaries. Parrots and Paroquets — the dividing 
line between the two can not be sharply drawn — are forest-inhabiting, 
fruit- and seed-eating birds. They are poor walkers, good climbers, 
and strong fliers, making extended flights in search of food. Their 
voices in Nature are harsh and discordant; nevertheless, almost all the 
species possess the power of speech. Some, however, rarely learn to 
talk, while others invariably do. The red-tailed, gray African Parrot 
(Psittacus erythacus) takes first rank for ability in this direction, while 
the Mexican Double Yellow-head (Amazona oratrix) is usually accorded 
second place. Parrots are believed to mate for life. They nest in holes, 
usually in trees, and lay white eggs. The young are hatched with a 
covering of white down and are reared in the nest. 
382. Conuropsis earolinensis (Linn.). Carolina Paroquet. (Fig. 
51.) Ads. — Head and neck all around yellow; forehead and cheeks deep 
orange ; bend of the wing and tibiae orange ; rest of the plumage bright green ; 
the inner vanes of the wing-feathers fuscous; the under surface of the tail 
yellowish. Im. — Similar, but the head and neck green like the back; fore- 
head and region in front of the eye orange; tibiae and bend of the wing 
without orange. L., 12*50; W., 7*40; T., 6*50. 
Range. — S. Fla., ne. and e. of Lake Okeechobee; formerly from the 
Atlantic coast of se. U. S. w. to Tex., Okla., and e. Colo, and n. to Nebr., 
