(GREEN PARRAKEET.)
+Conurus murinus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 441; _Darwin, Zool.
Beagle_, iii. p. 112 (Paraná). +Bolborhynchus monachus+, _Scl. et
Salv. Nomencl._ p. 113; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 186 (Buenos
Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 3 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z.
S._ 1882, p. 621 (Catamarca, Santiago del Estero); _Barrows,
Auk_, 1884, p. 28 (Entrerios); _Burm. P. Z. S._ 1878, p. 77.
_Description._--Green; front grey, with paler margins to the
feathers; wings blackish, with slight bluish edgings: beneath grey,
with lighter margins to the breast-feathers; under wing-coverts,
flanks, and crissum pale green; bill whitish: whole length 11·0
inches, wing 5·5, tail 5·3. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina.
The Common Green Parrakeet, called _Cotorra_ or _Catita_ in the
vernacular, is a well-known resident species in the Argentine Republic.
It is a lively restless bird, shrill-voiced, and exceedingly vociferous,
living and breeding in large communities, and though it cannot learn
to speak so distinctly as some of the larger Parrots, it is impossible
to observe its habits without being convinced that it shares in the
intelligence of the highly-favoured order to which it belongs.
In Buenos Ayres it was formerly very much more numerous than it is now;
but it is exceedingly tenacious of its breeding-places, and there are
some few favoured localities where it still exists in large colonies, in
spite of the cruel persecution all birds easily killed are subjected to
in a country where laws relating to such matters are little regarded,
and where the agricultural population is chiefly Italian. At Mr.
Gibson's residence near Cape San Antonio, on the Atlantic coast, there
is still a large colony of these birds inhabiting the Tala woods
(_Celtis tala_), and I take the following facts from one of his papers
on the ornithology of the district.
He describes the woods as being full of their nests, with their
bright-coloured talkative denizens and their noisy chatter all day long
drowning every other sound. They are extremely sociable and breed
in communities. When a person enters the wood their subdued chatter
suddenly ceases, and during the ominous silence a hundred pairs of black
beady eyes survey the intruder from the nests and branches; and then
follows a whirring of wings and an outburst of screams that spreads the
alarm throughout the woods. The nests are frequented all the year, and
it is rare to find a large one unattended by some of the birds any
time during the day. In summer and autumn they feed principally on the
thistle; first the flower is cut up and pulled to pieces for the sake
of the green kernel, and later they eat the fallen seed on the ground.
Their flight is rapid, with quick flutters of the wings, which seem
never to be raised to the level of the body. They pay no regard to a
_Polyborus_ or _Milvago_, but mob any other bird of prey appearing in
the woods, all the Parrakeets rising in a crowd and hovering about it
with angry screams.
The nests are suspended from the extremities of the branches, to which
they are firmly woven. New nests consist of only two chambers, the
porch and the nest proper, and are inhabited by a single pair of birds.
Successive nests are added, until some of them come to weigh a quarter
of a ton, and contain material enough to fill a large cart. Thorny
twigs, firmly interwoven, form the only material, and there is no lining
in the breeding-chamber, even in the breeding-season. Some old forest
trees have seven or eight of these huge structures suspended from the
branches, while the ground underneath is covered with twigs and remains
of fallen nests. The entrance to the chamber is generally underneath,
or if at the side is protected by an overhanging eave to prevent the
intrusion of opossums. These entrances lead into the porch or outer
chamber, and the latter communicates with the breeding-chamber. The
breeding-chambers are not connected with each other, and each set is
used by one pair of birds.
The number of pairs does not exceed a dozen, even with the largest
nests. Repairs are carried on all the year round, but new nests are
only added at the approach of spring. Opossums are frequently found in
one of the higher chambers, when the entrance has been made too high,
but though they take up their abode there they cannot reach the other
chambers, and the Parrakeets refuse to go away. A species of Teal
(probably _Querquedula brasiliensis_) also sometimes occupies and breeds
in their chambers, and in one case Mr. Gibson found an opossum domiciled
in an upper chamber, Parrakeets occupying all the others except one, in
which a Teal was sitting on eggs.
The breeding-season begins about November 1, and as many as seven or
eight eggs are laid; these are dull white, very thin-shelled, elongated,
and have the greatest diameter exactly equidistant from the two ends.
Mr. Barrows speaks as follows of this species in Entrerios:--"An
abundant and familiar bird in the neighbourhood of Concepcion through
the entire year. It is commonly seen in flocks of twenty and upwards,
visiting grain-fields, gardens, &c., and sometimes, if I was correctly
informed, it has appeared in flocks of tens of thousands, completely
stripping the grain-fields. They nest in communities, many pairs uniting
in the building of a large common nest or mass of nests. I only saw
these nests on two occasions, and had no opportunity of examining their
structure. They were placed on high trees, and appeared from below to be
simply irregular masses, six or eight feet in diameter, formed of small
sticks and twigs. Where the nests are abundant the natives destroy the
young by hundreds, and the 'squabs' when nearly grown are said to be
very fine eating. The young are easily tamed, and may be taught to
articulate a few simple words."