habits of this parakeet than we have of the eastern race, beyond
the following statement by Col. N. S. Goss (1891): “Their nests are
usually placed in holes or hollow cavities of trees. In the spring
of 1858, a small flock reared their young in a large hollow limb
of a giant sycamore tree, on the banks of the Neosho River, near
Neosho Falls, Kansas. I have never been able to procure their eggs.”
_Eggs._--What few eggs of this race are in existence are
indistinguishable from those of the Carolina parakeet. The
measurements of the only four eggs that I have been able to locate
are =36= by 27, 35 by =27.5=, =35= by =26.5=, and 36 by 26.5
millimeters.
_Food._--Prof. Myron H. Swenk (1934) says of the food of this
parakeet:
The food of the Interior Carolina Paroquet, though all
vegetable, was highly varied, and they seemed to delight
in the fruits of spiny or thorny plants. One of the most
relished foods was the seeds of the cocklebur (_Xanthium
canadense_), and they fed also on the seeds of the sand-bur
grass (_Cenchrus tribuloides_) and of the various species
of thistles (_Cirsium_). In the fall they ate the seeds of
the honey locust (_Gleditsia triacanthos_) and the tender
buds and fruit of the osage orange (_Maclura pomifera_).
In the spring they ate the buds of the red maple (_Acer
rubrum_) and birch (_Betula spp._). During the summer
they ate much fruit, especially mulberries, wild grapes,
hackberries and pawpaws, and, after the planting of
cultivated apple orchards, were likely to visit them and
peck out the apple seeds in the fall, sometimes doing
injury in this way. Corn in the milk was also sometimes
injured, but not extensively. Other favorite items of food
were the seed balls of the sycamore and beech and pecan
nuts. In the South cypress seeds were much eaten.
Dr. Amos W. Butler (1892), quoting from W. B. Seward, thus
describes the parakeet’s method of eating the cocklebur seeds: “In
eating, the bird picked up a burr with its beak, this was then
delivered to one foot raised to receive it. Then one end of the
burr was cut off with the sharp-ended under beak, the burr being
held with the foot and the under side of the upper beak while two
small kernels were extracted with the assistance of the tongue and
the husk was thrown away.”
Dr. Butler, elsewhere (1898), adds to the items of food mentioned
above cherries, persimmons, black-gum berries, haws, and acorns.
_Voice._--Mr. Swenk (1934) says: “The common call notes consisted
of a loud, shrill series of rapidly uttered, discordant cries,
given incessantly when the birds were in flight, resembling
_qui-qui, qui, qui, qui, qui-i-i-i_, with a rising inflection on
each i and the last cry drawn out. Another call resembled the
shrill cry of a goose and was frequently uttered for minutes at a
time. When at rest they had a low, conversational chatter.”
_Winter._--The Carolina parakeet was evidently a very hardy bird, a
remarkable quality, quite unique among parrots. Wilson (1832) saw
them “in the month of February, along the banks of the Ohio, in a
snow storm, flying about like pigeons, and in full cry.” Dr. Butler
(1898) was furnished the following note by Prof. John Collett:
In 1842, Return Richmond, of Lodi (Parke County), Ind.,
cut down, in the cold weather of winter, a sycamore tree
some four feet in diameter. In its hollow trunk he found
hundreds of Parakeets in a quiescent or semi-torpid
condition. The weather was too cold for the birds to fly
or even to make any exertion to escape. Mr. Richmond cut
off with his saw a section of the hollow trunk some five
feet long, cut out a doorway one foot by two in size,
nailed it over a wire screen of his fanning mill, rolled
this cumbersome cage into the house and placed in it a
dozen of the birds. They soon began to enjoy the feed of
fruit, huckleberries and nuts he gave them, and he had the
pleasure of settling absolutely the disputed question of
how they slept. At night they never rested on a perch, but
suspended themselves by their beaks, and with their feet on
the side of their cage. This was repeated night after night
during their captivity.
RHYNCHOPSITTA PACHYRHYNCHA (Swainson)
THICK-BILLED PARROT
HABITS
This fine, large parrot is a Mexican species that claims a place
on our list as an irregular visitor across our southwestern border
in southern Arizona and New Mexico. Charles T. Vorhies (1934) has
published an account of all the Arizona records that he was able
to find, which probably tells the whole story. R. D. Lusk (1900)
reported that a flock of nine or ten of these parrots came into
the Chiricahua Mountains, just north of the Mexican border, about
the middle of June 1900. He collected two specimens, and some
polecutters killed several others. “They appeared to come up the
large cañon, at the head of which I was encamped, to about midway
of the mountain’s height, where the oaks begin to give way to pine,
and there they tarried.”
Austin Paul Smith (1907) reported “an immense flock of this
species, * * * observed by miners at Bonita Park, near Cochise head
in the Chiricahua Mountains, during the month of August, 1904. * * *
This flock was estimated at from 700 to 1,000, by those who observed
the birds. Among these were a number of young birds, easily
distinguished by plumage and small size.”
The next occurrence of these parrots, and probably the last
definite record, was in the winter of 1917–18, of which Percy Hands
wrote to Professor Vorhies as follows: “The Mexican Thick-billed
Parrots were first noticed on my ranch in lower Pinery Canyon in
mid-September. About 250--counted over 200--in one flock. They have
been on my ranch at irregular intervals since then up to March
27. They roosted here seven times during late October and early
November. The longest period they were away was about three weeks
before they appeared March 27. There were about 70, rough count, at
that appearance.”
The thick-billed parrot may have occurred elsewhere in Arizona, but
Professor Vorhies was unable to find any definite records for any
locality outside of the Chiricahuas. The New Mexico records are
both hearsay, sight records. Mrs. Bailey (1928) reports: “In 1919,
Dr. Alexander Wetmore was told by R. Winkler that in recent years
his son had at times seen parrots on Animas Mountain, above Deer
Creek. * * * A confirmatory record was given Aldo Leopold by Forest
Ranger Don S. Sullivan, who said that in 1917 some large Parrots
were seen near the Elvey Ranch. * * * on the Animas Division of the
Coronado Forest near the Mexican boundary.”
The main range of the thick-billed parrot is in the mountains
bordering the Mexican tableland. Dr. W. H. Bergtold (1906) writes:
This bird is increasingly common from Chuichupa southward,
and was especially an everyday sight during the trip, in
1904, to the mountains west of Parral. * * * In the higher
mountains west of Parral, a region varying in altitude from
4,000 to 10,000 feet, the Thick-billed Parrot is far more
common than northward in the country west of Cases Grandes;
in fact it is the characteristic bird of these high places,
as much so as is the Magpie part of the local color of
our Western Plains. * * * In whatever section we saw
them, these parrots were most abundant in the pines. They
frequented the tops of dead pines, and were, a good part of
the time, going in and out of abandoned woodpecker nests,
nests which we took to be those of the Imperial Woodpecker
(_Campephilus imperialis_), for this splendid woodpecker is
relatively common in the same neighborhood, and is the only
woodpecker which excavates such a large hole.
_Nesting._--Practically all we know about the nesting habits of
the thick-billed parrot is contained in the report of Col. John E.
Thayer (1906) on some ten nests of this species examined by Wilmot
W. Brown, Jr., in 1905, in the mountains near Colonia Pachaco
and Colonia Garcia, Chihuahua, Mexico. The breeding grounds were
at altitudes varying from 6,500 to 7,500 feet, and all the nests
were in the tall pines, characteristic of the region. The parrots
occupied the old nests of the imperial woodpecker, which had been
excavated at heights ranging from 50 to 80 feet above ground; one
nest was in a living longleaf pine, but all the others were in
dead, dry, or rotten pines. The entrance to the hole was usually
circular and 6 or 7 inches in diameter; the holes varied in depth
from 18 to 24 inches, and the inner cavity measured from 8 to 10
inches in diameter. No nesting material had been brought in, the
eggs having been laid on the bare wood dust left by woodpeckers.
One nest, found on August 20, contained two big young ones and one
fresh egg; another found on August 28, held two young ones. All the
other nests, found between August 11 and 25, contained one or two
eggs. Mr. Brown wrote to Colonel Thayer (1906) that the first tree
he climbed was “located on a flat-topped mountain at an altitude
of 7,500 feet above the sea. * * * The tree was about one hundred
feet high and was thirty-six inches in diameter at the base and was
so dry that the bark had all peeled off. It was very difficult to
climb, not to mention the danger.” The nest was 80 feet from the
ground.
_Eggs._--I have examined the eggs referred to above, which,
with the entire Thayer collection, are now in the Museum of
Comparative Zoology, in Cambridge. They vary in shape from ovate to
rounded-ovate, are pure white in color, and are decidedly glossy;
the shell is hard and thick. The measurements of 20 eggs average
39.49 by 30.63 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes
measure =42= by 31. 39.2 by =32=, =37.6= by 30.6, and 38.2 by =29=
millimeters.
_Plumages._--Aside from the alcoholic specimens in the Thayer
collection, which are unsuitable for description, I have seen no
nestlings of this species. The immature bird is similar to the
adult, but the red of the forehead is more restricted, and the red
is lacking on the bend of the wing and on the lower thighs. Nothing
seems to be known about the length of time that the immature
plumage is worn, or about subsequent molts and plumages.
_Food._--The birds observed by R. D. Lusk (1900) “were very busily
engaged with the pine cones, and investigation of their stomachs
showed nothing but a plentiful quantity of very immature pinones
wrested from their cavities in the hearts of the hard, green
cones by their powerful beaks. The beaks, at their bases, as well
as nearly the entire under parts of the birds, were more or less
begummed with the resin of the cones.” The birds reported by Austin
Paul Smith (1907) were first noticed when “feeding on pinyon nuts.
Some of the birds were on the ground, searching for the fallen
nuts.” During their sojourn in Arizona, these parrots have been
reported as feeding on pinyon nuts and acorns, after they had
exhausted the supply of pine cones.
The stomachs of two birds examined by Cottam and Knappen (1939)
contained 136 and 284 or more seeds of the Chihuahua pine (_Pinus
chihuahuana_). “The pine seeds were in all stages from entire seeds
to a pulverized mast-like débris.”
_Behavior._--All observers seem to agree that the thick-billed
parrot is very tame and unsuspicious, probably owing to its
unfamiliarity with man.
William Beebe (1905) says: “It is either a very stupid bird or
controlled by its curiosity, for the flocks followed us everywhere.”
Dr. Bergtold (1906) writes:
It was a great surprise to see how different is a wild
parrot from a tame one; one must need get an idea from the
latter that a parrot is a slow, lumbering climber, able to
use its wings perhaps, yet little given to prolonged and
vigorous flight. On the contrary, this Thick-billed Parrot
flew across deep barrancas, from mountain to mountain, as
swift and strong on wing as a duck, going often in large
flocks, which were noticeably divided in pairs, each couple
flying one above another as closely as beating wings
allowed. Its loud squawk resounded overhead, across the
barrancas, and in the pines all day long, from dawn till
dusk; and many and many a time a flock could be heard long
before it was in sight. The birds were not at all shy, as
one could walk up under a tree and watch a pair climbing
in it without disturbing them in the least. Here they
seemed natural, at least to one whose previous knowledge
of parrots came via the cage bird, for they climbed about
precisely as does the domesticated species, using bill and
feet in the familiar way; on the wing the birds seemed
anything but parrots.
Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1935) obtained considerable information from
reliable observers about the occurrence of this parrot in Arizona
and its habits; regarding its movements and behavior, he writes:
According to all accounts Thick-billed Parrots gathered
at night to roost in flocks and then spread out in small
bands to feed during the day. In Pinery Canyon they roosted
somewhere on the upper mountain slopes during summer and
fall. Morning and evening they were seen in two large
flocks. As the weather became colder the roosting place was
changed to one at a lower altitude. In Rucker Canyon the
birds came at night to the mountain side above the site of
old Camp Rucker.
As there were a thousand or more here, their morning and
evening flights were quite impressive. In the Dragoon Range
the parrots roosted somewhere near the head of Cochise
Stronghold and made a morning flight that often carried
them directly out over the plains to the east.
In feeding, the large bands usually broke up into smaller
parties. In winter such flocks at times came down to perch
on broken sandstone ledges where they clambered about or
basked in the sun. In Backer Canyon toward evening flocks
often flew down to the river to drink before passing on to
their roost. In the Chiricahua Mountains during late fall
and winter the birds came down into the foothills to an
altitude of between 5000 and 5500 feet though earlier they
were confined to the higher basins.
The birds were noisy and their coming was heralded by
their loud calls that were said to be readily audible at
a distance of more than a mile. Like parrots elsewhere
they were said to show much fear of hawks (though it seems
strange that a bird with so powerful a bill and so muscular
a body should show such fear); when a red-tail or a hawk
of some other species appeared they rose in flocks and
circled in the air, doubling the volume of their ordinary
screeching calls.
He was told by F. Hands that “as cold weather came during the fall
some of the birds disappeared. Others remained during the entire
winter, although at one time the ground was covered by six inches
of snow for over two weeks and the birds were forced to seek their
food on the ground where this covering had blown partly away.”
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico
(casually) and the mountainous area adjacent to the tableland of
Mexico.
The range of the thick-billed parrot extends =north= to (casually)
southeastern Arizona (probably near Mowry, Pinery Canyon, Cochise
Head, and Paradise); (casually) southwestern New Mexico (Animas
Mountain); eastern Chihuahua (Ciudad Chihuahua); and Veracruz
(Perote). =East= to Veracruz (Perote and Jalapa). =South= to
central Veracruz (Jalapa); Mexico (Popocatapetl); and southern
Durango (Canyon Rio San Juan). =West= to Durango (Canyon Rio San
Juan, Ciudad Durango, and Arroyo del Buey); western Chihuahua
(Guadalupe y Calvo, Jesus Maria, and Colonia Garcia); and
southeastern Arizona (Nogales and probably Mowry).
While the range as outlined includes the entire region over which
the species is known to occur, it has actually been found breeding
only in the Mexican States of Chihuahua and Durango. At irregular
intervals flocks that sometimes are of large size travel northward
and invade the mountain ranges of southeastern Arizona. Such
invasions took place in 1900, 1904, and 1917.
_Egg dates._--Mexico: 10 records, May 10 to August 25; 7 records,
August 11 to 25.
Order CUCULIFORMES
Family CUCULIDAE: Cuckoos, Roadrunners, and Anis
CROTOPHAGA ANI Linnaeus
SMOOTH-BILLED ANI
HABITS
This curious member of the cuckoo family is a tropical species of
rare, or perhaps only casual, occurrence within the limits of the
United States; a few may occur more or less regularly in southern
Florida or Louisiana, but to find it in abundance one must visit
the West Indies or South America. It has a variety of local names,
such as black ani, black witch, blackbird, savanna blackbird, and
tickbird, the last from its habit of eating the ticks that infest
cattle. Charles B. Taylor sent some interesting notes on this bird
to W. E. D. Scott (1892); regarding its haunts in Jamaica, he says:
The Ani appears to be abundant in all parts of the island.
It is one of the commonest birds near Kingston; and in
most open and sparsely wooded lands, or in the vicinity
of cultivated clearings, little groups or companies may
nearly always be seen. Blackbirds are invariably present
wherever cattle are pastured. I cannot recollect an
instance in which I have noted a herd of cows at pasture
without a flock of these birds appearing in company with
them or in their immediate vicinity. This association is
doubtless chiefly for the purpose of feeding on the ticks
and other parasites on the animals, a good work largely
shared by the Grackles (_Quiscalus crassirostris_). It is
most interesting to watch a company of Blackbirds when thus
engaged. Many are perched on the backs of the cattle (two
or three sometimes on one cow), others are on the ground
hopping about fearlessly among the grazing herd, searching
for insects at the roots of the herbage or capturing those
disturbed by the feet of the cattle.
_Nesting._--He says on this subject:
Their nesting habits are exceedingly curious and
interesting. Many individuals (possibly members of one
flock) work together in the construction of a large nest
in which all the females of the company lay their eggs.
The number of eggs deposited in different nests varies
greatly but is of course dependent on the number of birds
in a company. Six and eight eggs are commonly found. I once
took eleven, and in August last year I saw a clutch of
twenty-one that had been taken from a single nest! It is
probable that normally not more than two eggs are deposited
by each bird, but nothing definite can be said on this
point. The nest, which is usually placed high up in a tall
tree, very frequently in a clump of mistletoe on a “bastard
cedar”, is a large, loosely constructed mass of twigs,
entirely lined with dried leaves. But the most remarkable
circumstance in connection with the nesting of these birds
is the deposition of the eggs in _regular layers_ with
leaves between. This custom I had long heard of before an
opportunity offered for personal observation. In the first
nest I examined, the eggs were in two distinct layers,
separated by a deep bed of dry leaves; the bottom layer
consisted of four eggs and these, strange to say, were all
infertile. I believe this singular habit is practised in
all cases where a large number of birds resort to the same
nest.
Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1927) writes:
Although this species often builds a communal nest, this
is not always the case. Near Cayey [Porto Rico], January
22, two anis were seen constructing a nest in a tree about
thirty feet above a small stream, the male sitting on a
limb above while the female was in the nest, as yet only
a loose mass of sticks and weeds. She moved and turned to
shape it to her body, with her long tail sticking nearly
straight up in the air. Near Bayamón, July 25, a single
bird slipped quietly from a bulky nest in a clump of
bamboos and only its mate appeared to join it. The nests
were all large and bulky and were located from six to
thirty feet above the ground. Bowdish reports a communal
nest found near Aguadilla, August 13, built eight feet from
the ground, in a thicket of bushes and trees. This nest
contained twenty eggs, placed in layers of four or five,
each layer being covered with dead leaves to separate it
from the next lot of eggs above. Eight of the eggs were
partly incubated and twelve were fresh.
John G. Wells (1902) says: “A flat nest is first built and about
6 or 7 eggs laid in it; then these are covered over and more eggs
laid, and so on until four or five layers of nests have been
constructed one over the other.
“I have seen four of these birds sitting on the nest together.
When the top layer of eggs is hatched, and the young fledged, it
is scraped off and incubation goes on with each succeeding layer,
until all the eggs are hatched.”
_Eggs._--On account of its communal nesting habits, the number of
eggs laid by each individual ani does not seem to be known; nor
is anything known about the period of incubation. The number of
eggs found in a nest varies greatly, from 4 or 5 up to 20 or more,
depending on the number of females laying in the nest. I have in
my collection a set of 18, there is a set of 19 in the Thayer
collection, and sets of 20 and 21 are mentioned above.
The eggs vary in shape from oval to elliptical-oval. Bendire
(1895) says that the eggs “are glaucous-blue in color, and this is
overlaid and hidden by a thin, chalky, white deposit; as incubation
advances the eggs become more or less scratched and the blue
underneath is then plainly visible in places, giving them a very
peculiar appearance.” The underlying color of some of the eggs that
I have seen is “pale Nile blue”; others have described them as
green.
The eggs are often very much nest stained. Mr. Taylor (Scott,
1892) makes the following interesting observation regarding the
scratches: “What seems very singular is that comparatively little
of this chalky covering gets rubbed off the sides, where from the
turning over of the eggs in the nest we should expect to see the
greatest extent of denudation, whereas _one_ or _both ends_ are
nearly always _wholly_ denuded. * * * So cleanly and evenly is it
done, and to such an extent, that I feel confident it is the work
of the birds themselves, their beaks alone being able to accomplish
it. At the same time it is easy to see that the marks and scratches
at the sides are the result of friction with the twigs and leaves
of the nest.”
The measurements of 63 eggs average 35.03 by 26.27 millimeters; the
eggs showing the four extremes measure =40.4= by 28, 36.5 by =30=,
and =29.21= by =23.37= millimeters.
_Young._--Alexander F. Skutch has sent me the following notes on
the development of young smooth-billed anis, as observed by him on
Barro Colorado Island, Panama: “The newly hatched ani is covered
with black skin quite devoid of any trace of feathers. Its eyes are
tightly closed. The development of this naked, helpless, little
creature is amazingly rapid. By the second day the sheaths of the
flight plumes have already begun to sprout. By the third day the
eyes are open, and the sheaths of the contour feathers have begun
to push out from the skin. The pinfeathers grow rapidly and become
very long before they begin to release the true feathers which they
enclose. When the young ani is 5 days old, the body feathers peep
from the ends of their sheaths. At this age, the nestling could
hang by one foot from my finger, and pull itself up by the use of
its feet and bill, which was hooked over the support. When placed
on the ground, it attempted to crawl away through the grass, and
might have succeeded in escaping if I had not watched it carefully.
Returned to the nest, it would not remain in the bowl, but climbed
out to perch on the rim, where it uttered a little whine.
“When I approached the nest on the following day, the 6-day-old
youngster hopped out and began to climb through the thorny branches
of the orange tree, but soon it lost its hold and fell to the
ground. When I picked it up, it uttered a weak imitation of the
parents’ usual call. The flight feathers, as well as the body
feathers, were now pushing forth from their sheaths, and the latter
were longer than on the preceding day. Much bare skin was, however,
still visible between them. On the following morning the nest was
empty; and I could not discover what had befallen the occupant.”