The Parrot does not satisfy himself with Cockle-burs, but eats or destroys
almost every kind of fruit indiscriminately, and on this account is
always an unwelcome visitor to the planter, the farmer, or the gardener.
The stacks of grain put up in the field are resorted to by flocks of these
birds, which frequently cover them so entirely, that they present to the
eye the same effect as if a brilliantly coloured carpet had been thrown over
them. They cling around the whole stack, pull out the straws, and destroy
twice as much of the grain as would suffice to satisfy their hunger. They
assail the Pear and Apple-trees, when the fruit is yet very small and far
from being ripe, and this merely for the sake of the seeds. As on the stalks
of Corn, they alight on the Apple-trees of our orchards, or the Pear-trees
in the gardens, in great numbers ; and, as if through mere mischief, pluck
off the fruits, open them up to the core, and, disappointed at the sight of
the seeds, which are yet soft and of a milky consistence, drop the apple
or pear, and pluck another, passing from branch to branch, until the
trees which were before so promising, are left completely stripped, like
the ship water-logged and abandoned by its crew, floating on the yet
agitated waves, after the tempest has ceased. They visit the Mulberries,
Pecan-nuts, Grapes, and even the seeds of the Dog-wood, before they are
ripe, and on all commit similar depredations. The Maize alone never
attracts their notice.
Do not imagine, reader, that all these outrages are borne without severe
retaliation on the part of the planters. So far from this, the Parakeets
are destroyed in great numbers, for whilst busily engaged in plucking
off the fruits or tearing the grain from the stacks, the husbandman
approaches them with perfect ease, and commits great slaughter among
them. All the survivors rise, shriek, fly round about for a few minutes,
and again alight on the very place of most imminent danger.
The gun is kept at work; eight or ten, or even twenty, are killed at
every discharge. The living birds, as if conscious of the death of their
companions, sweep over their bodies, screaming as loud as ever, but still
return to the stack to be shot at, until so few remain alive, that the farmer
does not consider it worth his while to spend more of his ammunition.
I have seen several hundreds destroyed in this manner in the course
of a few hours, and have procured a basketful of these birds at a few
shots, in order to make choice of good specimens for drawing the figures
by which this species is represented in the plate now under your consideration.
The flight of the Parakeet is rapid, straight, and continued through
the forests, or over fields and rivers, and is accompanied by inclinations
of the body which enable the observer to see alternately their
upper and under parts. They deviate from a direct course only when
impediments occur, such as the trunks of trees or houses, in which
case they glance aside in a very graceful manner, merely as much as
may be necessary. A general cry is kept up by the party, and it is
seldom that one of these birds is on wing for ever so short a space
without uttering its cry. On reaching a spot which affords a supply
of food, instead of alighting at once, as many other birds do, the
Parakeets take a good survey of the neighbourhood, passing over it
in circles of great extent, first above the trees, and then gradually lowering
until they almost touch the ground, when suddenly re-ascending
they all settle on the tree that bears the fruit of which they are in
quest, or on one close to the field in which they expect to regale themselves.
They are quite at ease on trees or any kind of plant, moving sidewise,
climbing or hanging in every imaginable posture, assisting themselves
very dexterously in all their motions with their bills. They usually
alight extremely close together. I have seen branches of trees as
completely covered by them as they could possibly be. If approached
before they begin their plundering, they appear shy and distrustful, and
often at a single cry from one of them, the whole take wing, and probably
may not return to the same place that day. Should a person shoot
at them, as they go, and wound an individual, its cries are sufficient to
bring back the whole flock, when the sportsman may kill as many as he
pleases. If the bird falls dead, they make a short round, and then fly
off.
On the ground these birds walk slowly and awkwardly, as if their
tail incommoded them. They do not even attempt to run off when approached
by the sportsman, should he come upon them unawares; but
when he is seen at a distance, they lose no time in trying to hide, or in
scrambling up the trunk of the nearest tree, in doing which they are
greatly aided by their bill.
Their roosting-place is in hollow trees, and the holes excavated
by the larger species of Woodpeckers, as far as these can be filled by
them. At dusk, a flock of Parakeets may be seen alighting against the
trunk of a large Sycamore or any other tree, when a considerable excavation
exists within it. Immediately below the entrance the birds all cling