Psittacus auripalliatus, Lss. Synonyms: Amazona auripalliata, SchlG.; Chrysotis auripalliata, Fnsch.;

C. auro-palliata, Gr.; C. aureipalliata, Bp.; C. flavinuchus;

Psittacus flavinuchus, Gld.

German: Der gelbnackige Amazonenpapagei, Rss.

French: Perroquet Amazone à collier d'or.

JUDGING from the specimens that at different times have come under our notice, this is a very delightful species, clever, gentle, tractable, and less given to the undue exercise of its vocal abilities at their utmost pitch than many of its congeners; it is also handsome and hardy, and, in a word, one to be highly recommended to the notice of amateurs.

The general colour of the plumage is grass green, darker above than on the under surface of the body; the forehead, top of the head and the cheeks are of a paler shade of the same colour; the nape is deep citron-yellow, which is also, occasionally, the colour of the crown of the head; the green wings are dappled with deep crimson and blue; the tail is green with red spots; the feet and legs dark horn-grey, the claws black, and the irides reddish brown.

Mrs. Proschek, of Vienna, in Dr. Buss's Chamber Birds, writes as follows concerning this species: - "Of all the Parrots I prefer the Amazons, and of these the Yellow-nape is my favourite. It is the most charming and delightful creature imaginable. When anyone rings the bell, or when the dogs bark, the Amazon calls out, 'There is some one there!' (es ist jemand da!) When it hears me speaking it flies to me and whispers in the most charming voice, 'Where have you been?' (wer war da!). If it sees me preparing to go out, it flies on my shoulder, and calls out in the most plaintive manner, 'Don't go, stay here.' (geh nicht fort, bleib' da). When I take it and put it down on its perch, after having kissed it, and gone out, it commences to whimper and cry like a child. When I return and go to see it, it flies immediately on my shoulder, and exclaims, 'Stay here' (bleib' da). It laughs, cries, and sings when I ask it to do so, and will lie on its back in my lap and play like a kitten. It will not bite, lets me do what I like with it, and is never in the least vicious. In the evening, when all the other Parrots have gone to their cages, it is the last up, sits on my arm, covered with a handkerchief, and regularly goes to sleep. After it has been warmed and kissed, it retires voluntarily into its cage. When it is sleeping on my arm, and I say, 'Now, dear Lori, sing', it commences in a little soft voice, 'wie im Bauer.' It will go to ladies without any difficulty; and I have no fear that the strangers will be bitten, but gentlemen it cannot abide. This ever-charming little creature, after having been in my possession for three years, was returned to its former master, Herr Schöttler, in Bremerhaven. The poor bird was at death's door, it fretted so greatly, and had a severe bite at the root of the beak inflicted by a large Macaw, or a monkey. I wrote to Herr Schöttler, begging him to let me have the bird to nurse until it was well: he was obliging enough to consent. Then began a cruel time, but I nursed it; and the bird, becoming in the interval as dear to me as a child to its mother, recovered at length; when I bought it, and now my pet is prettier, stronger, and healthier than ever. It has struck up a warm friendship with a Vinaceous Amazon, and when the cook is called in the morning, 'Rosa, bring the coffee (Rosi, bring' an Kafe), it cries out to the Amazon, 'Tauberl, bring the coffee' {Tauberl, bring' an Kafe)."

The London Zoological Society first acquired this species in 1844, when a specimen was purchased. Another was presented to the Gardens in 1866, and a third in 1879.

The cost of a newly-imported Yellow-naped Amazon is about forty or fifty shillings; an educated specimen that spoke well, would of course command a very much higher price. Dr. Buss quotes the value of a talking bird of this species at from £6 to £7 10s.

This Amazon was first fully described in 1842 by Lesson. It is a native of Central America, and is frequently kept by the inhabitants of Costa Rica, where it is a great favourite with both rich and poor, according to Dr. A. von Frantzius, who had opportunities of observing it in its wild state as well as in captivity; and who gives it an excellent character for gentleness and capacity for learning.

The Yellow-naped Amazons differ from each other very considerably in appearance, although the description we have given above is that more generally applicable to them; but some specimens have blue, and others yellow on the head and face, and some are either almost or entirely without the yellow collar on the back of the -neck, but these are thought to be immature birds; and it would be interesting to note the changes wrought in the colour of the plumage of a given individual by the lapse of time; observations which we have not, as yet, had an opportunity of making.

It is a large bird, measuring about fifteen inches in length, of which the tail occupies four and a half inches; the wings measure from eight inches to eight inches and a half, and cover, when folded, about two-thirds of the tail.

When treating of the Yellow-naped Amazon, Dr. Karl Russ mentions that Fräulein Hagenbeck received in 1878, among other birds, three supposed members of the species which had the face and the whole of the front of the head yellow, while the beak was bright yellowish horn-grey (hellgelblichhorngrau); and when he asked what they were, Karl Hagenbeck replied, "I do not exactly know, though I believe them to be hybrids between the Yellow-naped and the large Yellow-headed Amazon. It is certainly very curious, but by no means impossible, that such a cross should have occurred in a state of nature."

Nevertheless we do not greatly believe in mules as the result of cross alliances among birds or animals living a natural life of freedom, though we are aware that such monsters are not of uufrequent occurrence when the same creatures are reduced to captivity by the hand of man; their natural instincts blunted, and their idiosyncrasies lost or perverted by his action. We are more inclined to think that the Fräulein's Parrots were pied "sports", which are not so unusual among the denizens of our woods and fields; and presumably are now and then to be met with in Tropical America, as well as in our own less genial climate. The question certainly might have been set at rest by putting up these birds to breed inter se, when had there been no result but barren eggs, it might have been confidently declared that the creatures really were hybrids; while had any young birds made their appearance, it would have been very curious and interesting to watch their development, and whether they assumed the usual family livery, or perpetuated the deviation of their parents from the ancestral type.

In the latter case the presumption would have been that the three birds were the offspring, not of individuals belonging to two distinct species, but rather to two races owning a common origin; in which case the progeny would have been mongrels. It is hopeless, however, for private individuals to attempt such necessarily costly experiments, which should rather be undertaken by the various Zoological Societies and Sociétés d' Acclimatation throughout the world; which, although they undoubtedly have done a good deal, have by no means exhausted the possibilities of scientific effort in the direction indicated.

Our London Zoological Society has at various times possessed thirty species of Amazon Parrots out of thirty-eight enumerated by Dr. Russ, who divides these birds into three groups; the first of which contains sixteen species with red dappling on the wings (Mit rothem Flügelspiegel), and one {Chrysotis xanthops) without.

The second group consists of eight specie3 with blue wing coverts, and, for the most part, with red frontal band and red eye streak.

The third group contains thirteen species, subdivided as follows:- Firstly, five with the edges of the wings and the first wing coverts marked with red; secondly, two without red dappling on the wings; thirdly, six species that have red dappling on the wings; all three sub-groups having red on the heads, and the first wing coverts green. This division is not without its disadvantages; for the Amazons, as we have said, are by no means uniform in colouring in many of the species; and we think a preferable mode of classification is by size, which varies considerably. Thus we have the large group, veritable giants of the race, such as Natterer's, and the Mealy Amazons, which measure about nineteen inches in length; then we have the medium-sized birds, of which the subject of the present notice, the Surinam and Festive Amazons are examples, their length varying from fifteen inches and a half to fourteen inches; and lastly the small Amazons, such as the White-fronted and Finsch's, which only measure twelve inches in length.

To return to the Yellow-naped, It will readily be conceded that from its appearance it takes high rank among its fellows; while as regards its intellectual capabilities it will perhaps come next to the Double-fronted, otherwise Le Vailiant's Amazon, which was figured and described in the second volume of this work. It is certainly to be regretted that so eminently desirable a Parrot, from the fancier's point of view at all events, should bo of such rare occurrence in the bird market; and we may advise our readers to secure every specimen of the Yellow-naped they may chance to come across.

It is decidedly hardy, even when first brought over, and with the commonest care will survive in captivity for a great many years. Cases are recorded where it has attained to quite a patriarchal age, and been handed down from one generation to another, like an heirloom.

The food should consist of maize, boiled and raw, hemp seed, oats, a few nuts, and in summer a little ripe fruit; but meat, or animal food of any kind whatever, should not on any account be given; as by heating the blood, such unnatural diet leads to skin disease, and is one cause at least of Parrots disfiguring themselves by plucking out their own feathers; a habit that once contracted is most difficult of cure.

We do not think these birds have so far been bred in captivity, though some Amazons had young ones in the wood at Northrepps; but from the description given we conclude them to have been the Blue-fronted Amazon; a much commoner importation than the Yellow-naped. If however one species has multiplied in this country, there is every inducement for amateurs to make trial of other members of the genus; and the scarcer the species the more remunerative would be the venture to the enterprising amateur.

Another advantage would be that the progress of the nestling to adult Parrothood, could be noted at every stage, and numerous doubtful points in their history be satisfactorily cleared up; while it is reasonable to suppose that creatures born in captivity would become more readily domesticated, than others that had enjoyed a previous life of liberty; or at least were the descents of wild birds, in which the hereditary love of freedom would of necessity be strong.

The Hon. And Rev. F. G. Dutton's Account Of The Yellow-Naped Amazon (Chrysotis Auripalliata)

I have only kept one of these birds. I got it from Hâvre, where it drew a great many people round the shop by its conversational powers. It was quite young when it came to me, so young that there was but a yellow feather or two showing where the gold nape ought to be. I kept it through its next moult, and it was bought at the Albert Palace Show by a lady, who tells me that she prizes it more than all her other Parrots. It was very clever, but I think it missed the lively streets of Hâvre, and found a quiet country parsonage in England a surprising experience; for it was some time with me before it said a word. It talked best after the arrival of a Double-fronted Amazon, which came from Hâvre too. Then, it was very amusing to hear them talking and answering one another, like a couple of old Frenchwomen. It was said to sing three songs, of which the names were given to me; but I think I may safely say that whatever the accomplishments it had, those were certainly imaginary.

And how many other Parrots are credited with saying and doing things, of which they are as innocent as Mrs. Harris' sister's child was of "performing beautiful upon the Arp!" I suppose the people who tell you what Parrots say, really believe they have heard them. Let us hope they do. ' But at any rate if Jacquet did not sing "Hola, le Nicholas", or "J'ai du bon taboo", neither did he scream, and the lack of the voice quite counterbalanced the lack of the accomplishment. I think Dr. Russ says that the drawback to Amazons is that, however accomplished they may become, they never quite give up their natural screams, whereas the Grey Parrot does. But my experience does not tally with his. I have had at least one Blue-fronted and one Double-fronted, as well as Jacquet, which never screamed. And with regard to Greys, though they may give up their natural scream, they almost always have some disagreeable noise, either the squeak of a creaking barrow or some loud shrill whistle, or even only the chirp of a Canary; but rendered, as it were, through the microphone, if I am right in supposing that the microphone is the instrument that makes the walk of a fly sound like an elephant's tramp? So that the chances are that a good Double-fronted or Yellow-naped Amazon will prove a pleasanter companion than a Grey, take them all in all. In one respect Jacquet was more like a Grey than an Amazon. The merit of an Amazon is that he talks freely before strangers, as a rule, and a Grey will not. But Jacquet would not talk before strangers, in England at any rate. In Hâvre, as I have said, I was told he always kept a crowd round the shop where he hung. He was a nervous bird, and though he would come on your hand, was easily frightened. But my experience of him leads me to say that a young Yellow-naped Amazon is quite as desirable as a Double-fronted Amazon.

They are about the same value - £2 10s. to £3 each. The food for the Blue-fronted Amazon suits the Yellow-nape. I would not advise any one to buy a bird of which the Yellow-nape had fully come, and which was still wild. They would probably secure nothing but an unbearable screamer. Of course a clever Yellow-nape, like a clever Double-fronted, is worth a great deal more than £3.

I have talked of Jacquet as "he", but I don't feel sure it was not a hen. The fact is that owing to "perroquet" being masculine, and "perruche" feminine, all French Parrots are "he", and all French Parrakeets "she". I think it may have been a hen, because it struck me that the Yellow-naped Amazon exhibited at the last Palace Show had a much bluer head. Jacquet was of a more uniform green.