A very rare juvenile specimen of an extinct Carolina Parakeet is set to go under the hammer with an estimate of £15,000-25,000 (plus buyer’s premium) in the Natural History and Taxidermy Sale at Tennants Auctioneers on 22nd April. The specimen is part of a small display of birds native to North and South America, made circa 1880-1900.
The display was once in Kilmurry, Co. Kilkenny, the large Georgian family home of renowned Irish artist Mildred Anne Butler (1858-1941), who was the great granddaughter of Edmund Butler, 11th Viscount Mountgarret. Never marrying, she lived most of her life in Kilmurry and her father, Henry, was a talented amateur artist who favoured painting exotic animals and plants he encountered on his travels.
Tennants’ Natural History Specialist Robbie Bright says: “It is very rare to come across a specimen of the Carolina parakeet on the open market, and even rarer to find a juvenile example, which has yet to develop the distinctive solid yellow head of the adult bird.”
The Carolina parakeet was a brilliantly coloured, medium sized bird, that was only one of three parrots native to North America. They inhabited much of the eastern United States, favouring old, swampy forests, and travelled in large flocks of around 300 birds. Once prevalent within its range, the Carolina parakeet had become rare by the middle of the 19th century, as their range collapsed from east to west during settlement by Europeans and subsequent deforestation. Their plight was not helped by living in big, noisy flocks that irritated settlers, along with their habit of eating farmers’ crops; they were soon targets for sport and their plumage used for millinery.
After 1860, the bird was rarely reported outside of Florida, and the last known wild specimen was killed in Florida in 1904 and the last in captivity died in Cincinnati Zoo in 1918. The species was declared extinct in 1939.
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