Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/148

 It is a curious fact that several of the early writers assert that the parakeet was a common bird in Virginia when it was first settled. Hamor mentions that he had observed many parakeets in winter in the new country, a statement which Strachey confirms by declaring that flocks of them made their appearance in the early part of December. He had frequent opportunities of examining their plumage after killing them, which it was difficult to do, as they were very swift in their flight. He describes the wings of this bird as being of a greenish color, the head varied in tint, being either yellow, crimson, orange, or tawny, but in either instance extremely beautiful. The tail was forked. These are the physical features of the ordinary parakeet. If this bird was found in Virginia when it was first explored, of which from this description, it seems, there can be no doubt, it now has entirely disappeared, an assertion that cannot be made concerning the other species to which the earliest observers have left references. There is no modern bird with which the parakeet of Hamor and Strachey can be identified; there is none that even approaches it in the general character of its plumage.

Of the numerous varieties of the woodpecker, one was as large in size as the English magpie, having a scarlet