Cassell's book of birds; vol. 1Brehm, Alfred Edmund
Science
Cassell's book of birds; vol. 1
Brehm, Alfred Edmund
Birds
We have full particulars of their life and habits from Wilson, Audubon,
and the Prince von Wied. "The Carolina Parrakeet," says Audubon, "eats
or destroys all kinds of fruit, and is on this account most unwelcome to
the planter, the countryman, or the gardener. The stacks of corn in the
fields are often visited by large flocks, which hide them so completely
that they present the appearance of being covered with a brilliantly
coloured carpet; the birds hang round the stacks, draw out the straws,
and destroy twice as much of the corn as is necessary to satisfy their
hunger. They come in crowds to assail the fruit trees in a garden, pluck
the fruits, bite them open and take out the soft and milky kernel,
proceeding industriously from branch to branch, until the tree that had
looked so promising is entirely stripped. It is easy to understand that
these attacks upon their property are avenged by the planters, and that
regular war is waged against the Parrakeets. Ten or twenty of them often
fall at one shot, but the survivors always come back to the same place,
so that many hundreds are killed in the course of a few hours." The
"Carolina Parrakeet," says Wilson, "is a very sociable creature. Should
one of a flock be wounded, the rest instantly return to it, uttering loud
anxious cries, as they settle on the nearest tree. After repeated shots
they will not alter their behaviour, but come nearer and nearer to the
fallen bird, and fly around it with plaintive screams."
It would be hard to find a greater contrast than is noticeable between
the rapid flight of the Carolina Parrakeets and their lame, helpless
movements when on the branches of trees, and still more when on the
ground. They fly in closely-packed masses, rushing along with loud
resounding cries, generally in a direct line, sometimes in graceful
curves, which they seem often to vary for their own amusement. Their
favourite trees are sycamores and plantains, in the hollows of which they
find a resting-place, and hang to the bark like woodpeckers, clinging by
the beak and claws. They sleep a good deal, retiring many times in the
day to their holes to take a nap. They eat salt readily, and for this
reason are always to be found in great numbers near salt works. Wilson
gives us the following information concerning a Carolina Parrakeet that
he tried to keep:--"As I was anxious to learn whether this parrot would
allow itself to be easily tamed, I took one under my care that had been
slightly wounded in the wing. I prepared for him a kind of bower at the
stern of my boat, and threw him burdocks, which he continued to eat from
the time he came on board. The first day was pretty equally divided
between eating and sleeping, and at times he gnawed the bars of his cage.
When I left the river and travelled by land I carried my prisoner with
me in a silk handkerchief, disregarding all the difficulties which such
an undertaking must involve. The road was bad beyond description; there
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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