After having satisfied their hunger in this manner they go in search of water to drink; and, according to Audubon and Schomburgk, do not refuse salt, or at any rate brackish water. Besides occasional rain-baths, they will bathe in lakes, washing themselves, Le Vaillant tells us, until they are soaked through, as with a heavy rain. We also learn from Audubon that they enjoy playing in the sand like fowls, covering their plumage with dust, and will creep into king-fishers' holes, in order to find it. They are fond of salt ground, and are always to be found near the saltworks in the forests. The incubation of these birds takes place during the months that correspond in their native lands to our spring. The larger kinds appear to lay but once in the year, and then only two eggs; though the Australian Grass Parrot and some others are exceptions to this rule, inasmuch as they will lay regularly from three to four eggs, and in some cases from six to nine, twice or even three times during the year. The eggs are always white, smooth, and round. Holes in trees are the favourite nesting-places of these birds, but not exclusively so; some American kinds will lay in holes in the rocks, and the Indian parrots in crevices in old buildings, pagodas, monuments, or houses. Audubon assures us that several females will lay in one hole; but we consider this as very doubtful, though it is true that parrots prefer breeding in society, sometimes even associated in immense flocks. Molina speaks of a large settlement of these breeding birds in Chili, and Pöppig of another, probably of the same species. "These several settlements," says the last-mentioned naturalist, "must be very astonishing to those to whom they are new. Fancy yourself, about mid-day, wearily approaching a precipice, believing yourself to be perfectly alone, that deep silence reigning around you that always indicates noon in these tropical regions, when all animals seek repose in sleep; a kind of growling strikes your ear, but you look in vain for any creature that could produce it; suddenly you hear the parrots' cry of warning, answered by many others, and before you are awake to your true position, are surrounded by swarms of these quarrelsome birds, flying about in a close circle, and in evident anger, threatening to strike you. From all the innumerable holes upon the face of the rocks little round heads are protruding, looking comical enough; and those that do not come out unite their screams to the general uproar. Every opening indicates a breeding hole, that has been excavated by its owner in the clay met with between the strata of the rocks. At times many hundreds may be counted." These colonies are always so cunningly situated, that it is impossible for a beast of prey to approach them. Such settlements could not be made in the woods, as the trees would not afford a foundation strong enough to sustain their weight.