'Mr. Macaw was tired of his cage-- Too much of a prison for home; Mr. Macaw was in a great rage, And so he _settled_ to roam. The cage-door was open, the window too (Strange chance, both open together!), So he took his chance and away he flew; But, alas! it was wintry weather. Wind from the north, ground covered with rime, A frost that made your limbs shiver; Poor Mr. Macaw! this was not like the clime On the banks of the Amazon River. So Mr. Macaw grew wise, as do men, When taught by experience bitter; He flew back to his cage, and determined then He would never again be a flitter.'" [Illustration: FROM COL. CHI. ACAD. SCIENCES. A. W. MUMFORD, PUBLISHER, CHICAGO. CAROLINA PAROQUET. Life-size. CHICAGO COLORTYPE CO. COPYRIGHT 1899, BY NATURE STUDY PUB. CO., CHICAGO.] THE CAROLINA PAROQUET. (_Conurus carolinensis._) BY LYNDS JONES. Few birds indeed can lay claim to such beautiful and varied dress as our native paroquet. But for this dress and for certain habits which will be spoken of more particularly a little later, he has had to pay a most severe penalty. Once an abundant bird over the whole southeastern portion of the country, ranging commonly as far north as southern Ohio and Illinois, and sometimes even as far north as southern Michigan and New York, and as far west as eastern Colorado, his numbers and range have been reduced to a few individuals in the wilds of the Indian Territory and the adjacent parts of Texas, and the fastnesses of the Florida swamps. The region over which he ranged so numerously in advance of civilization, suffers a distinct loss in his extermination. It is hardly fair to lay the blame for the disappearance of this bird solely at the door of the plume-hunters and collectors, for it must be admitted that the paroquet was a real menace to the fruit-grower and farmer when he was abundant. Even his extreme fondness for the fruit of the cockle-bur, thistle, and a few other noxious plants, could hardly atone for the complete ruin of the apple crop, or his serious inroads upon the wheat or corn field. One could not stand tamely by while a flock of these birds, with all their beauty, stripped his orchard of every blossom and bud.