THE ROSE-RINGED PARRAKEET (Palæornis torquatus).
ROSE-RINGED PARRAKEET.
This Parrot is probably the species of which we have the earliest known record, as Onesicritus, who was admiral of the fleet of Alexander the Great, is said to have brought from Ceylon a specimen of a green Parrot with a red neck. Many authors have supposed that the large Alexandrine Parrakeet (Palæornis eupatrius, or Alexandri) was the species referred to, but the habitat of this bird is now known to be the island of Java, and the Rose-ringed Parrakeet is more probably the bird intended. Professor Sundevall, the great authority on Aristotle, believes that the present bird was the only Parrot known to the ancients, being brought into Europe probably from Nubia. Other species were not seen in Europe before the end of the Middle Ages, and the West African species, such as the Senegal Parrot (P. senegalus), in 1455, and the Grey Parrot even later; the latter not being described before Aldrovandus, about the year 1600. American species were brought already in 1493 by Christopher Columbus, and many Indian species after the circumnavigation of Africa about the year 1500. The present bird is common in India and Ceylon, and is, moreover, one of the few species of birds which are common to the Indian Peninsula and the continent of Africa, as it is a well-known bird in Nubia and Abyssinia, and on one occasion a flock has been seen in the neighbourhood of Port Elizabeth in the extreme south of the continent. According to Dr. Jerdon, it is one of the most common and familiar birds in India, frequenting cultivated ground and gardens, even in the barest and least wooded parts of the country, and it is habitually found about towns and villages, constantly perching on the house-top. It is very destructive to most kinds of grain, as well as to fruit-gardens. Burgess says that they carry off the ears of corn to trees to devour at leisure, and Jerdon has observed the same sometimes. When the grains are cut and housed it feeds on the ground in the stubble cornfields, also in meadows, picking up what seeds it can; and now and then takes long flights, hunting for any tree that may be in fruit, skimming close and examining every tree; and when it has made a discovery of one in fruit, circling round, and sailing with outspread and down-pointing wings till it alights on the tree. It associates in flocks of various size, sometimes in vast numbers, and generally many hundreds roost together in some garden or grove. At Saugor all the Parrakeets, Mynahs, Crows, Bee-eaters, &c., of the neighbourhood, for some miles around, roost in company in a large grove of bamboos; and the deafening noise heard there from before sunset till dark, and from the first dawn of day till long after sunrise, gives to the listener the idea of numberless noisy steam machines at work. Many of the flocks of Parrots are very late in returning, and fly along quite low, skimming the ground, and just rising over a tree, house, or any obstacle in the way, and, for several nights in succession, several Parrakeets flew against the wall of a house, on the top of a hill in Saugor, and were killed. The Rose-ringed Parrakeet breeds both in holes in trees, and very commonly in the south of India about houses, in holes in old buildings, pagodas, tombs, &c. It lays four white eggs. Its breeding season is from January to March. Adams states that he has seen this Parrakeet pillage the nests of the Sand Martin; but with what intent he does not guess at. Its ordinary flight is rapid, with repeated strokes of the wings, somewhat wavy laterally, or arrowy. It has a harsh cry, which it always repeats when in flight, as well as at other times. Mr. Philipps remarks that the Kite will sometimes swoop down on them when perched on a tree, and carry one off in its talons; also that Owls attack these birds by night.[243]
The length of this species is about sixteen inches and a half. It is green with a black band extending from under the chin backwards nearly to the nape, and having a rose-coloured collar round the hind neck. The bill is cherry-red, the feet greyish, and the iris pale yellow. The female does not possess the rose-coloured collar, but has instead a narrower one of emerald green.
THE CAROLINA CONURE (Conurus carolinensis).
The Conures are inhabitants of the New World, and are very abundant in South America, but one species, the Carolina Conure, penetrating into the Nearctic region above the line of North Mexico. It is a very handsome bird, but is rapidly decreasing in numbers, and becoming restricted in its range, so much so, that in places where it was once plentiful it is now no longer to be found at all. Even in 1842, when Audubon wrote, they were then fast diminishing, and are now confined to the Southern and South-western States, as far west as the Missouri river. The food of the Carolina Conure is stated to consist chiefly of the seeds of the Cockle-burr (Xanthirum strumarium), but it is also very partial to fruit of all kinds, and it is owing to the way in which it has been shot down that it is now so rare, for Mr. Audubon describes the immense damage done by a flock of Conures to stacks of grain, which they covered in such numbers that they presented to the eye the same effect as if a brilliant-coloured carpet had been thrown over them. The farmers resented the attacks on their property to such an extent that the same naturalist states that he has seen hundreds killed in the course of a few hours, the survivors, after each shot, flying round for a few minutes, and then settling again in a place of most imminent danger. Even in confinement the birds seem to develop their destructive propensities, destroying wood, books, and, in short, everything that comes in their way, while from their incapability of talk, and their harsh, disagreeable voices, they are not much esteemed as pets. As Audubon observes, the woods are the habitation best fitted for them, and there the richness of their plumage, their beautiful mode of flight, and even their screams, afford welcome intimation that the darkest forests and most sequestered swamps are not destitute of charms. According to the same observer, they deposit their eggs, without making a nest, in the bottoms of such cavities in trees as those to which they usually retire at night. Many females deposit their eggs together, and he believed that the number laid by each hen bird was two; the eggs were greenish-white, and nearly round, and the young are at first covered with soft down, such as is seen in nestling Owls. The colour of this Parrot is green, the head and neck bright-yellow, and the forehead and region of the eye scarlet; the bill is white, the feet pale flesh-colour, and the iris hazel; the length of the bird being about fourteen inches. The female is like the male, but the young bird has the head green instead of yellow.
THE PARRAKEETS (Platycercinæ).
These form the fourth sub-family, and are remarkable for their slender, smooth tarsus, which is formed as in most birds; and the voice is more agreeable than in the other genera, the members of which, almost without exception, have a harsh and unpleasant cry. They are mostly inhabitants of Australia, whence come several of them well known as cage-birds, such as the King Parrakeet (Platycercus scapulatus), the Rosella, or Rose Parrakeet (P. eximius), and in America they are represented by the single genus Bolborhynchus.