304 LOVE BIRD.

are in the habit of describing circles and other aerial
evolutions, previous to their alighting upon the trees
which contain their food. Thus Audubon, in his account
of the Carolina parrakeet, says, “Their flight is rapid,
straight, and continued through the forests, or over
fields and rivers, and is accompanied by inclinations of
the body, which enables 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, 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 the 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 birds do, the parrakeets 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 them-
selves.”
' The places selected for hatching their eggs, and
rearing their young, are the hollows of decayed trees;
they make little or no nest, but deposit their eggs,
which, according to the species, vary from two to five
or six in number, upon the bare rotten wood. In these
‘hollows, it is said, they also frequently roost during.
the night. ©