THE PARROT. 155 



THE PARROT. 



The climbing birds do not catch their food quite in the same way as the 

 perchers. In fact, their food is in rather a different place. 



Sometimes it grows upon a tree in the shape of a nut or a fruit, and the 

 climbing bird makes his way among the branches as nimbly as the monkey 

 does. His feet are made for climbing, and his toes are arranged in pairs, 

 two in front, and two behind, and the outer toe turns backwards like a thumb. 

 Indeed, the foot can hold a fruit or a nut as well as if it were a hand. 



We are speaking now of the parrots, that form a class by themselves. 

 They are such famous climbers that they have often been compared to the 

 monkeys. And the parrot, like the monkey, rarely walks on the ground, 

 but climbs, and makes his way from bough to bough, keeping always in his 

 leafy home in the tops of the forest trees. 



His expertness in climbing is so wonderful that we must pause a few 

 minutes to watch him. 



He has a hooked bill, which is very strong, and he uses it, as well as 

 his feet, to climb with. He lays hold of the branch that is over his head 

 and hooks himself on to it. And then he raises up his body and grasps a 

 branch on either side, and thus makes his way along. 



His bill is of the utmost use to him ; without it he could not crack the 

 forest nuts and get at the kernels. And he is extremely fond of all such 

 diet. He can move the upper part of his bill as well as the lower, which 

 gives him a great deal of power. We must tell you that all birds can do this 

 in some degree, but the parrot better than any. The upper part of his bill 

 is not a mere piece of the skull, but is quite separate from it, and connected 

 by a joint, so that it can move with the utmost ease. And the muscles that 

 move the bill are very strong indeed, so that it can crack the hardest fruit, 

 and do almost anything. 



The parrot has a thick fleshy tongue, that can taste and relish the food. 

 And in some kinds of honey-loving parrots, that feed on the nectar of flowers, 

 the tongue has a kind of brush at the end of it, made of tiny filaments, that 

 can spread out when wanted, and sweep off the honeyed juices of the flower. 



The parrots, as a family, are dressed in the richest attire. They vie with 



