CLARK: LESSER ANTILLEAN BIRDS. 
271 
up a low and continuous jabbering, unless alarmed, when they 
become quiet. On being shot at they become extremely noisy and 
give out a series of shrieks and “kaks.” 
Owing to the steepness of the slopes and the nature of the 
itndergrowth in the district where these birds occur, I found it 
exceedingly difficult to obtain specimens. Even if one were killed 
outright, a long search was necessary before it could be found, and 
to get wounded ones was usually out of the question. 
When in the Richmond valley my native guide pointed out to me 
some very large dead trees, on a high ridge, where he said parrots 
used formerly to “ camp ” and about which they could be heard 
“ barking ” at any time. Probably these trees served as a nesting 
site for some of these parrots. None of the natives whom I ques¬ 
tioned knew anything about the breeding habits of these birds, nor 
had it ever occurred to them that they might nest inside of trees, 
although many of them had found owls ( Strix nigrescens) in such 
situations. 
Mr. J. T. Thorne, until lately a magistrate in Demerara, who 
lived many years ago in St. Vincent, told me that a pair of these 
parrots once nested in an old estate chimney near Kingstown, and 
that two young were obtained from the nest. 
? Conurus sp. Parrakeet.— Schomburgk (’48, p. 681) gives 
“ Psittacus passerinus ” as occurring in Barbados, and Hughes 
(1750, p. 73) says: “The Parakite. This is of the frugivorous 
kind, and about the bigness of a thrush, having a longer and more 
crooked bill. It feeds on all manner of berries, popaws, and ripe 
plantains, residing chiefly in inaccessible gullies. The bird borrows 
its name from its resemblance in make, but not in plumage, to the 
small green Parakite.” Hughes was very accurate in his statements 
(vide under Vireosglva calidris barbadense ), and is here confirmed 
by Schomburgk. From the writings of various early authors (Du 
Tertre, de Rochefort, Labat, etc.) we gather that parrakeets were 
formerly abundant on Martinique and Guadeloupe, and there is no 
reason why they might not have been plenty in Barbados also. 
Owing to the flatness of Barbados and the consequent accessibility 
of all parts of the island, one would expect that any of the parrot 
tribe that existed there at the time of its discovery would very 
quickly disappear, inasmuch as they appear to be the most readily 
exterminated of all birds possessed of the power of flight. 
