A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 2

Habits. In determining the geographical distribution of the Carolina Parrot, a distinction should be made between its accidental occurrence and its usual and habitual residence. Strictly speaking, this species, though of roving habits, is not migratory. Its movements are irregular, and dependent upon the abundance or the scarcity of its food. Where it breeds, it is usually a permanent resident. An exceptional visit to a place cannot be taken as certain evidence that it will reappear in that locality.

When Wilson wrote, it inhabited the interior of Louisiana and the country lying upon the banks of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and their tributary waters, even beyond the Illinois River, to the neighborhood of Lake Michigan, in latitude 42° north. The same writer insisted that, contrary to the generally received opinion, it was at that time resident in all those places. Eastward of the great range of the Alleghanies it has been very seldom seen north of the State of Maryland, though straggling parties have been occasionally observed among the valleys of the Juniata. Barton states that a very large flock of these birds was observed in January, 1780, about twenty-five miles northwest of Albany.

The occurrence of this species in midwinter so far to the north, and its constant residence west of the Alleghanies throughout the year in colder regions, justify the conclusion of its being a very hardy bird. In evidence of this, Wilson mentions the fact of his having seen a number of them, in the month of February, on the banks of the Ohio, in a snow-storm, flying about like Pigeons, and in full cry.

The very evident preference which the Carolina Parakeet evinces for western localities, though in the same parallel of latitude with those east of the Alleghanies, which it rarely or never visits, is attributed by the same attentive observer to certain peculiar features of the country to which it is particularly and strongly attached. These are the low, rich alluvial bottoms along the borders of creeks, covered with a gigantic growth of buttonwood, deep and impenetrable swamps of the cypress, and those peculiar salines—or, as they are called, salt-licks—so frequent throughout that region, all of which are regularly visited by the Parakeets. The great abundance of the seeds of the cockle-bur (Xanthium strumarium) is also given as a still greater inducement for their frequenting the banks of the Ohio and the Mississippi, where these plants are found in the greatest abundance. The seeds of the cypress-trees are another powerful attraction, while the abundance of the mast of the beech, on which it feeds freely, may explain their occasional visits to more northern regions, and even to places where they were before unknown.

In descending the Ohio in the month of February, Wilson met the first flock of Parakeets at the mouth of the Little Scioto. He was informed by an old inhabitant of Marietta that they were sometimes, though rarely, seen there. He afterwards observed flocks of them at the mouth of the Great and Little Miami, and in the neighborhood of the numerous creeks which discharge themselves into the Ohio. At Big Bone Lick, near the mouth of the Kentucky River, he met them in great numbers. They came screaming through the woods, about an hour after sunrise, to drink the salt water, of which, he says, they are remarkably fond.

Audubon, writing in 1842, speaks of the Parakeets as then very rapidly diminishing in number. In some regions where twenty-five years before they had been very plentiful, at that time scarcely any were to be seen. At one period, he adds, they could be procured as far up the tributary water of the Ohio as the Great Kanawha, the Scioto, the head of the Miami, the mouth of the Maumee at its junction with Lake Erie, and sometimes as far northeast as Lake Ontario. At the time of his writing very few were to be found higher than Cincinnati, and he estimated that along the Mississippi there was not half the number that had existed there fifteen years before.

According to Nuttall, this species constantly inhabits and breeds in the Southern States, and is so hardy as to make its appearance commonly, in the depth of winter, along the wooded banks of the Ohio, the interior of Alabama, and the banks of the Mississippi and Missouri, around St. Louis, and other places, when nearly all the other birds have migrated.

Its present habitat seems to be the Southern and Southwestern States, as far west as the Missouri. They occur high up that river, although none were seen or collected much farther west than its banks. In the enumeration of the localities from which the specimens in the Smithsonian collection were derived, Florida, Cairo, Ill., Fort Smith, Arkansas, Fort Riley, Kansas, Nebraska, and Bald Island, Missouri River, and Michigan are given.

In regard to the manner of nesting, breeding-habits, number of eggs in a nest, and the localities in which it breeds, I know nothing from my own personal observations, nor are writers generally better informed, with the single exception of Mr. Audubon. Wilson states that all his informants agreed that these birds breed in hollow trees. Several affirmed to him that they had seen their nests. Some described these as made with the use of no additional materials, others spoke of their employing certain substances to line the hollows they occupied. Some represented the eggs as white, others as speckled. One man assured him that in the hollow of a large beech-tree, which he had cut down, he found the broken fragments of upwards of twenty Parakeet’s eggs, which he described as of a greenish-yellow color. He described the nest as formed of small twigs glued to each other and to the side of the tree in the manner of the Chimney-Swallow! From all these contradictory accounts Wilson was only able to gather, with certainty, that they build in companies and in hollow trees. The numerous dissections which he made in the months of March, April, May, and June led him to infer that they commence incubation late in spring or very early in summer.

Mr. Audubon, who speaks from his own observations, describes their nests, or the places in which they deposit their eggs, as simply the bottom of such cavities in trees as those to which they usually retire at night. Many females, he thinks, deposit their eggs together; and he expresses the opinion that the number of eggs which each individual lays is two, although he was not able absolutely to assure himself of this. He describes them as nearly round, and of a light greenish-white. An egg of this species from Louisiana is of a rounded oval shape, equally obtuse at either end, and of a uniform dull-white color. It measures 1.40 by 1.10 inches.

1

Spizella pinetorum, Salvin, Pr. Z. S. 1863, p. 189. (“Similis S. pusillæ, ex Amer. Sept. et Mexico, sed coloribus clarioribus et rostro robustiore differt.”)

2

Winter plumage. Rusty prevailing above, but hoary whitish edges to feathers still in strong contrast; streaks beneath with a rufous suffusion externally, but still with the black in excess.

3

Winter plumage. Gray above more olivaceous, the black streaks more subdued by a rufous suffusion; streaks beneath with the rufous predominating, sometimes without any black.

4

Winter plumage. Above rusty-olive, with little or no ashy, the black streaks broad and distinct. Streaks beneath with the black and rusty in about equal amount.

5

In summer the streaks beneath are entirely intense black; in winter they have a slight rufous external suffusion.

6

Melospiza melodia, var. mexicana, Ridgway. Mexican Song Sparrow. ? ? Melospiza pectoralis, von Müller.

Sp. Char. (Type, 60,046, Puebla, Mexico, A. Boucard.) Similar to M. melodia, but ground-color above olive-brown; inner webs of interscapulars pale ashy, but not in strong contrast. Crown and wings rusty-brown, the former with broad black streaks, and divided by a just appreciable paler line; back with broad black streaks without any rufous suffusion. Superciliary stripe pure light ash, becoming white anterior to the eye; two broad, dark-brown stripes on side of head,—one from the eye back along upper edge of auriculars, the other back from the rictus, along their lower border. Lower parts pure white, the flanks and crissum distinctly ochraceous; markings beneath broad and heavy, entirely pure deep black; those on the jugulum deltoid, on the sides linear. Wing, 2.60; tail, 2.85; bill, .37 and .24; tarsus, .85; middle toe without claw, .68. This may possibly be the M. pectoralis of von Müller. The description cited above, however, does not agree with the specimen under consideration. The pectoral spots are expressly stated to be brown, not even a black shaft-streak being mentioned, whereas the pure black spots of the specimen before us render it peculiar in this respect, being, in fact, its chief characteristic.

7

Zonotrichia boucardi, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1867, 1, pl. I, La Puebla, Mex. (scarcely definable as distinct from ruficeps).

8

Peucæa botterii, Sclater, Cat. Am. B. 1862, 116 (Zonotrichia b. P. Z. S. 1857, 214), Orizaba. Coturniculus mexicana, Lawr. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. VIII, 1867, 474 (Colima).

This form can scarcely be defined separately from æstivalis. The type of C. mexicanus, Lawr., is undistinguishable from Orizaba specimens. A specimen in the worn summer plumage (44,752♀, Mirador, July) differs in having the streaks above almost wholly black, with scarcely any rufous edge; the crown is almost uniformly blackish. The feathers are very much worn, however, and the specimen is without doubt referrible to botteri.

The Peucæa notosticta of Sclater (P. Z. S. 1868, 322) we have not seen; it appears to differ in some important respects from the forms diagnosed above, and may, possibly, be a good species. Its place in our system appears to be with section “A,” but it differs from ruficeps and boucardi in the median stripe on the crown, and the black streaks in the rufous of the lateral portion, the blacker streaks of the dorsal region, and some other less important points of coloration. The size appears to be larger than in any of the forms given in our synopsis (wing, 2.70; tail, 3.00). Hab. States of Puebla and Mexico, Mex.

9

Passerella obscura, Verrill, Pr. Bost. N. H. Soc. IX, Dec. 1862, 143 (Anticosti). (Type in Museum Comp. Zoöl., Cambridge.)

“Size somewhat smaller than that of P. iliaca. Legs and wings a little shorter in proportion. Claws less elongated. Bill somewhat shorter, thicker, and less acute. Color above rufous-brown, becoming bright rufous on the rump and exposed portion of the tail, but a shade darker than in P. iliaca; head uniform brown, with a slight tinge of ash; feathers of the back centred with a streak of darker brown. Wings nearly the same color as the back, with no white bands; outer webs of the quills rufous, inner webs dark brown; secondary coverts rufous, with dark brown centres; primary coverts uniform brown. Beneath dull white, with the throat and breast thickly covered with elongated triangular spots and streaks of dark reddish-brown; sides streaked with rufous-brown; middle of abdomen with a few small triangular spots of dark brown; under tail-coverts brownish-white, with a few small spots of bright rufous; tibiæ dark brown. The auriculars are tinged with reddish-brown. Bristles at the base of the bill are numerous, extending over the nostrils. Tail rather long, broad, and nearly even. Third quill longest; second and fourth equal, and but slightly shorter; first intermediate between the fifth and sixth, and one fourth of an inch shorter than the third.

“Length, 6.75; extent of wings, 10.75; wing, 3.35; tarsus, 1 inch.

“This species differs greatly in color from P. iliaca. It is darker in all parts; the feathers of the back are rufous-brown, centred with darker, instead of ash centred with brownish-red; the two white bands on the wing are wanting; the breast and throat are thickly streaked with elongated spots of dark reddish-brown, while in P. iliaca the spots are less numerous, shorter and broader, and bright rufous, and the central part of the throat is nearly free from spots; the under tail-coverts are brownish-white, with rufous spots, instead of nearly pure white.”

There are some features in this bird, as described by Mr. Verrill, which seem to characterize it as different from P. iliaca, although it is barely possible that it is this bird in immature dress. The streaked back at once separates it from all our species excepting iliaca. Nothing is said of its habits. One specimen was killed in Anticosti, July 1; the other, August 8. The true iliaca was found on the island, which fact renders it still more probable that this is its young.

10

Atlantic Monthly, XXIII, p. 707.

11

Cyanospiza leclancheri. Spiza leclancheri, Lafr. Mag. Zoöl. 1841, pl. xxii.—Less. R. Z. 1842, 74.

12

Tiaris pusilla, Swainson, Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 438. Phonipara pusilla, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1855, 159.

13

Emberiza olivacea, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 309. Phonipara olivacea, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1855, 159.

14

Loxia canora, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 858. Phonipara canora, Bonap.

15

Cardinalis virginianus, var. coccineus, Ridgway.

16

Cardinalis virginianus, var. carneus. ? Cardinalis carneus, Less. R. Z. 1842, 209.—Bonap. Consp. I, 501.

According to the locality quoted (“Acapulco et Realejo”) this name is the one to be applied to the variety diagnosed in the synopsis; it is difficult, however, to make anything out of the description, as it is evidently taken from a female or immature bird. If the locality quoted be correct, this form ranges along the Pacific Coast, probably from latitude 20° south, as far at least as Nicaragua. North of 20°, and on the Tres Marias Islands, it is replaced by var. igneus, and on the Atlantic coast, from Tampico south to Honduras, is represented by the var. coccineus.

In the very long, stiff crest-feathers, and light red rump, this variety of C. virginianus closely approximates to C. phœniceus, but in other respects is very distinct.

17

Cardinalis phœniceus, (Gould,) Bonap. P. Z. S. 1837, p. 111; Consp. I, 501.—Sclater & Salvin, Ex. Orn. Pt. VIII, 1868, pl. lxiii.

18

Pipilo macronyx, Swainson, Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 434. Real del Monte, Mex.—Ib. Anim. in Men. 1838, 347.—Bp. Consp. 487.—Sclater & Salvin, 1869, 361. Pipilo virescens, Hartlaub, Cab. Jour. 1863, 228, Mex.

Sp. Char. Prevailing color above olive-green; the head and neck all round black, abruptly contrasted below with the white under parts; above passing insensibly into the green of the back; feathers of interscapular region obscurely dusky medially; sides and crissum rufous. Scapulars and greater and middle coverts with outer webs pale greenish-yellow at ends; these blotches faintly margined externally with olive-green. Edge of wing yellow; outer primary edged with whitish, edges of other primaries and of secondaries uniform olive-green. Fifth quill longest, fourth and sixth scarcely shorter; first shorter than ninth. Legs stout, claws much curved. Tail wanting in the single specimen before us (a male from the city of Mexico, belonging to Mr. G. N. Lawrence).

Dimensions (prepared specimen): Wing, 3.70. Exposed portion of first primary, 2.30; of second, 2.73; of longest (measured from exposed base of first primary), 2.85. Bill: Length from forehead, .75; from nostril, .45. Legs: Tarsus, 1.14; middle claw, .38; hind toe and claw, .85; claw alone, .52.

In describing this species, Swainson mentions an accompanying specimen as similar, but without any white spots on wings, suggesting that it may be the female. A specimen in the plumage from Oaxaca is characterized as follows.

19

Pipilo chlorosoma, Baird. 50,225 ♂, Oaxaca. Similar to P. macronyx in color, but without any trace of white markings on the wings. Outer tail-feathers with an obscurely defined greenish-white patch about an inch long, at the end of inner web; similar, but successively smaller patches on the second and third feathers, all whiter on upper than lower surface. Fifth quill longest; first shorter than ninth.

Dimensions (prepared specimen): Total length, 8.20; wing, 3.75; tail, 4.80. Bill: Length from forehead, .73; from nostril, .43. Legs: Tarsus, 1.24; middle toe and claw, 1.10; claw alone, .36; hind toe and claw, .85; claw alone, .50. No. 60,050, Mexico, is similar, in all essential respects.

From the analogies of the black Pipilos, it is reasonable to consider these two birds as distinct species, or at least varieties, especially as the specimen before us of that with unspotted wings is marked male. The general appearance is otherwise much the same, the unspotted bird rather smaller, and without the dusky interscapular markings described in macronyx. Should No. 50,225 represent a distinct species, it may be called P. chlorosoma, and distinguished as above. (60,050, Mexico, Boucard.)

20

Pipilo lateralis (Natt.). Emberiza lateralis, Natt. Mus. Vind. MSS. Poospiza lat. Burm. Th. Bras. III, Av. 2, p. 215. Pipilo superciliosa, Swains. An. Menag. 311, 95, fig. 59.

21

Pipilo maculatus, Swainson, Philos. Mag., 1827.

22

Pipilo carmani, Baird, MSS.; Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. X, 7. (Specimens in collection made by Colonel A. J. Grayson.)

23

Pipilo maculatus, Swainson. Sp. Char. Male. Similar to the female of Pipilo arcticus, but rather more olivaceous; only the head and neck all round black; shading above insensibly into the back. The white markings mostly edged narrowly externally with black, and clouded with rusty; the nape-feathers faintly, the interscapular broadly, streaked centrally with blackish; lower back and rump, with outer edges of quill and tail feathers, olivaceous-brown. A narrow shaft-streak in white at end of tail. Fourth quill longest; fifth scarcely shorter; first about equal to secondaries. Claws moderate; perhaps larger than in erythrophthalmus. Length of skin, 7.80; wing, 3.15; tail, 4.20; tarsus, 1.10; middle toe and claw, .96; claw alone, .34; hind toe and claw, .81; claw alone, .45. Hab. Mexico (Oaxaca; Real del Monte, Philos. Mag., 1827).

It is a serious question whether this comparatively little known Mexican species of Pipilo is not to be considered as identical with some or all of the species of the United States, with spotted wing-coverts, notwithstanding the difference in the color of the body. It appears, however, to be constant in the olivaceous character of the back,—no reference being made to Mexican specimens entirely black above,—and as such it may be considered a permanent geographical race.

24

Pipilo fuscus, Sw. Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 434 (Temiscaltepec).—Ib. Anim. in Menag. 1838, 347.—Bp. Consp. 1851, 487.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1856, 304 (Cordova). ? Kieneria fusca, Bp. C. R. XL, 1855, 356.

Sp. Char. Above dull olive-brown; the top of head having the central portion of feathers tinged (inconspicuously and obscurely) with rufous. Chin and throat pale rufous, bordered by dusky streaks; a single dusky spot in lower part of jugulum. Belly and flanks behind, anal region and crissum, rather darker rufous. Sides grayish-olive, lighter than the back, tingeing the breast, and leaving only a small patch in the centre of under parts white, shading into the surrounding ashy-brown. Fourth and fifth quills longest; first shorter than ninth, or than secondaries.

Dimensions (prepared specimen): Total length, 7.75; wing, 3.80; tail, 4.20; exposed portion of first primary, 2.30; of longest (measured from exposed base of first primary), 3.03. Bill: Length from forehead, .65; from nostril, .40. Legs: Tarsus, .95; middle toe and claw, 1.00; hind toe and claw, .68; claw alone, .36. Hab. Highlands of Mexico.

The specimen described is from the city of Mexico, and belongs to Mr. G. N. Lawrence; others before us are from Temiscaltepec (the original locality of Swainson’s type), Guadalaxara, and Tepic.

While admitting the strong probability that the different brown Pipilos with rufous throat bordered by black spots, P. fuscus, crissalis, mesoleucus, albigula, and probably even albicollis, are geographical modifications of the same original type, the large collection before us vindicates the action of those who have referred the California species to that described by Swainson as fuscus, and who have distinguished the P. mesoleucus from both. The original description of fuscus agrees almost exactly with crissalis, both actually scarcely separable; while the mesoleucus, intermediate in geographical position, is decidedly different from either. The relationships of these different forms will be found expressed in the general diagnosis already given.

Two descriptions given by Swainson, copied below, of the P. fuscus, differ somewhat from each other, and may not have been taken from the same specimen. The identification of either with P. mesoleucus would be a difficult matter; while the first one expresses the peculiar characters of crissalis more nearly than any other. The statement of “white beneath,” without any qualification, applies better to mesoleucus than to others, but the “pale rufous tinge” observable in crissalis and fuscus is very different from the abruptly defined chestnut cap of mesoleucus.

Pipilo fuscus, Swainson, Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 434. “Gray, beneath paler; throat obscure fulvous, with brown spots; vent ferruginous. Length, 8.00; bill, .70; wings, 3.50; tail, 4.00; tarsi, .90; hind toe and claw, .70.” Hab. Table land; Temiscaltepec.

Pipilo fuscus, Swainson, Anim. in Men. 1838, 347. “Grayish-brown above; beneath white; chin and throat fulvous, with dusky spots; under tail-coverts fulvous; tail blackish-brown, unspotted. Bill and legs pale, the latter smaller, and the claws more curved than in any other known species; crown with a pale rufous tinge. Length, 7.50; wings, 3.50; tail, 4.00; tarsus, .90; middle toe and claw the same; hinder toe, .65. Rather smaller than maculata.”

25

Pipilo albicollis, Sclater. Above uniform olivaceous-brown; the cap not differently colored. Lores, chin, and throat white, the two last bordered and defined by dusky spots; jugulum and breast white, the former clouded with olivaceous, and with a dusky blotch in middle; middle of throat crossed by an olivaceous band which curves round on each side under the ear-coverts; sides grayish. Flanks behind, anal region, and crissum, rufous. Middle wing-coverts with a whitish bar across their tips. Fourth and fifth quills longest; first shorter than ninth and secondaries. Length, 7.00; wing, 3.30; tail, 3.70. Bill and legs light. Hab. Central Mexico.

This “species” may fairly be considered as one extreme of the series of which P. crissalis is the other; and differs from the rest merely in a greater amount of white, and the absence of rufous tinge on top of head. The fulvous of throat is concentrated in a band across its middle portion, leaving chin and lower throat white; this, however, is foreshadowed in the paler chin of mesoleucus, and the whitish lower throat of albigula. The uniformity of coloring above is nearly equalled by that of P. crissalis. The whitish band across the middle wing-coverts is the most positive character.