CLASS AVES. 159 



base ; tongue fleshy and round ; first and fourth toes 

 turned backward, neither being versatile. They are per- 

 haps the most intelligent of birds, being often taught in 

 captivity to imitate the human voice.* Of the three 

 hundred and fifty species, more or less, embraced in the 

 order, fully one half belong to South America. In the 

 Parrots, too, is found in their varied coloration, a wonder- 

 ful mimicry some species exhibiting the greatest variety 

 of gay plumage, correspond- F IG . 370. 



ing to the brilliant-hued 

 flowers, among which they 

 flit in securing the fruit on 

 which they feed ; while 

 other species, more somber 

 in their dress, are adapted 

 to the forests, less gorgeous 

 in their floral aspect. 



The Carolina Pa rrot, 

 the single species found in 

 the United States, is rap- ConU ' rus "*'<* Carolina parrot. a> 

 idly becoming extinct. Its prevailing adult color is green 

 with yellow head and neck, and brick-red forehead. Its 

 curiosity is its greatest foe. One of a flock being shot, 

 the rest will keep alighting near by, till all are captured. 



* Its language is often so pat as to show that the bird really understands its 

 use. Goldsmith tells a story of a Parrot belonging to Henry VIII., which fell 

 into th? Thames. It immediately bawled out "A boat! a boat! twenty pounds 

 to save me." A man thinking some one was drowning, threw himself into the 

 river, but was astonished to discover it was only a bird. Finding the king was 

 its master, he carried it to him and claimed the promised reward. Henry laugh- 

 ing at the story, paid the amount "with good grace." Lord Dundonald, in his 

 autobiography, says that once some ladies were being hoisted up the sides of a 

 vessel by means of a chair suspended by a rope. Two or three had been safely 

 deposited on deck, when, as the chair was just starting again, a parrot shouted 

 out, "Let go !" The sailors, thinking it the boatswain's order, dropped the rope, 

 and away went the poor lady, chair and all, into the sea. 



