On a group of Psiltacidce known to the Ancients. 41 



of their voice, were in general request and estimation : — that 

 they were the favourites of some of the highest personages of 



Psittacos mercem fecerint." Polyhist. c. 23. p. 121. Ed. Aid. 1518. Apuleius 

 refers to the same formation of the tongue as the cause of the same powers of 

 speech. " Verum ad disciplinam humani sermonis facilior est psittacus, 

 glande qui vescitur; — illud omnibus proprium, quo eis lingua latior, quam 

 caeteris avibus, eo facilius verba hominis articulantur patentiore plectro et 

 palato. Id vero quod dicit, ita similiter nobis canit, vel potius eloquitur, i;t 

 vocem si audias, hominem putes." Florid. Lib. II. p. 137. Ed. Aid. 1521 • 

 In fact these birds are seldom mentioned by classick writers without a refer- 

 ence to their voice. Arrian expressly alludes to it. Nca^^oy oi((/nyizrtxi — 

 liiotos o^vis scrrtv o ctrrxnos^ kxi ontus (pmv)v Isi ixv^^wtfivviv.^^ Hist. Ind. c. xv. 

 Plutarch, in one of those treatises which prove him to have been no ordinary 

 observer of nature, (see particularly his Treatises " De Amore Prolis," and 

 *' De SolertiS, Animalium," Vol. VII. and X.) equally reiFers to the powers 

 of voice which these birds possess in common with the Stares, and Pies. 

 ^' "ioifis 5e xa< y.o^a,y.ts xtxt •^irrxyioi fAdv^AvovrES otaXsyecrS'a/, jcoti to T>jr 

 (pm'ns 7ev£v[Aix rots oioix<TKii<Tiv tvjiXa.a-rov htoj koci yi,nA,vi\Qv t^a,^i^iJitiv kxi 

 ^v^(ju^E{¥ vtx^s^ovrss^ eyi/n ^oytuai Trpo^iKeiv ycoct crvvvjyo^eiv rots oiXXots ^ojois 

 ev r« /xa»^av£iVj r^oirov rtvx ^i^xa-xotrss r/x-acj", ort kxi '7r§o(po§iK» Xoya ycxi 

 (putyis zvx^^^n (ji^trta-riv AVTotsJ*^ De Solertia Anim. Opera. Vol. X. p. 51i 

 Ed. Reiske. The poets abound in passages equally descriptive of their 

 powers of speech. 



" Quid tamen ista fides ? quid rari forma coloris ? 

 Quid vox mutandis ingeniosa sonis? — 



Nou fuit in terris vocum simulacior ales ; 

 Reddebas blaeso tam bene verba spno. — 



Occidit ille loquax, humanae vocis imago, 

 Psittacus, extremo munus ab orbe datum." 



Ovid. Amor. L. II. El. VI. 



*' Psittace dux volucrum, domini facunda voluptas, 



Humanae solers imitator Psittace linguae ; — 



Ille salutator regum, nomenque locutus 



Caisareum, et queruli quondam vice functus amici, 



Nunc conviva levis, monstrataque reddere verba 



Tamfacilis: quo tu, Melior dilecte, recluso 



Nunquam solus eras." Stat. Syl. L. II. 



The name of Cccsar seems to have been the favourite word, which was 

 taught to these " salutatores regum," and in former times to have occupied tlie 

 place of those trivial and unmeaning phrases which are in the mouths of our 

 modern Parrots. The delicate flattery of the Roman epigrammatist is conspi- 

 cuous in the following lines. 



