Early Emigrants .....

[Balgarvie]

I have a diary written by an ancestor who emigrated to New Zealand in the 1850's. Most of it is perfectly understandable, however theres a section where he talks about being afflicted by "jerusalem parrots", does anyone have any idea what that might be ? He was originally from Ayrshire if thats any help to dialect. My best guess was lice.

[karenmcc]

Hi balgarvie,

Have never heard of "Jerusalem Parrots", but there is a place in NZ called Jerusalem. What made you think it could be lice? Does it sound like some sort of ailment that is affecting his body or does he just say he is "afflicted by jerusalem parrots"? Parrots can be very destructive birds in Australia and I imagine it would be no different in NZ. They can wipe out crops and will gnaw through timber.

Karen Mc Cubbin

Just did a bit of Googling and apparently the NZ KEA ( a type of parrot) was a nuisance for early settlers as they will attack sick or injured sheep.

[Balgarvie]

It was actually while on board ship that he came down with this, he was in steerage so I assumed that conditions would be conducive to that sort of thing being prevalent.
I know all about the Kea parrot, they still cause big problems for sheep farmers but in this case the person concerned was well out of range of anything other than albatrosses.

[karenmcc]

OK. Sounds like you're probably right about the lice thing. I wonder if any Ayrshire folk who have nothing to do with A & NZ look at this board. I must admit I rarely look at the England and America boards.

Karen Mc Cubbin

[DavidWW]

I have a diary written by an ancestor who emigrated to New Zealand in the 1850's. Most of it is perfectly understandable, however theres a section where he talks about being afflicted by "jerusalem parrots", does anyone have any idea what that might be ? He was originally from Ayrshire if thats any help to dialect. My best guess was lice.

Hmmm......

I have a sneaking suspicion that this might not relate to a physical condition, but prosyletisers who wouldn't let go of a captive audience.

That written, Google doesn't help with the phrase, although there's at least one of such term, except the second word isn't parrot.

Equally, if the phrase was a slang term for lice, I'd have expected to find a reference on the www ................ (OK, I didn't go beyond the 2nd page of nay of the Google hot lists for the searches that I used ).

David

PS And I'm from Ayrshire

[SarahND]

I have a sneaking suspicion that this might not relate to a physical condition, but prosyletisers who wouldn't let go of a captive audience.

Sounds like a very good guess, David! I have a vague idea that I have heard something of the kind before, but can't bring it to mind.

Sarah

[Balgarvie]

I'll look out the original text, it might help if you understood the context. You replies have been food for thought though so thanks