122 THE SPEAKING PARROTS. 



they are nearly all of a dull colour ; yet many species fetch 

 a high price, not only on account of their rarity, but for their 

 beauty and pleasing ways. No results have as yet been attained 

 in the breeding of them, and this is much to be regretted, 

 because travellers have not had an opportunity of observing 

 their natural development. 



Their management is simple and inexpensive, for they really 

 eat nothing but seeds and fruit. They are fed with canary 

 seed, oats, sunflower seeds, and hemp ; but care must be used 

 in giving the last, especially in warm weather. Good sweet 

 fruit, milky maize heads, and a little green food, as well as 

 green branches to gnaw, are necessary for their health. 



CHAP. XXXV.— THE SENEGAL PAREOT. 

 Psittacus Senegalus, L. 



Senegal Parrot (Ger., ALolirenlcopf-Papagei, Orange-hduchiger 

 Langflilgelpapagei ; Fr., Perroquet du Senegal, Perroqiiet a tete 

 noire; Dut., Senegal Langvleugel Papegaai) — Description — 

 Regarded as an Ornamental Bird — Examples of Talkers — 

 Importation. 



The pretty Senegal Parrot is one of the commonest birds in the 

 trade, and arrives in great numbers every year. It is also one of 

 those parrots which have been longest known, for, as early as 

 the year 1455, it was mentioned by Aloysius Oada Mosto, and 

 described, in 1760, by Brisson. 



The old male is of a brownish-grey, inclining to black, on the 

 head, cheeks, and upper part of the throat ; on the hinder part 

 of the back, the rump, and the upper tail coverts it is of a 

 brilliant grass-green ; the quills are of an olive-greenish-brown ; 

 wing coverts green, with a brown centre ; the shoulder feathers 

 and the small under coverts of the wings are yellow ; the tail and 

 all the upper parts of the body are light grass-green ; the throat 

 and upper part of the breast grass-green, the rest of the under part 

 of the body being yellow ; the breast and the belly are orange- 

 colour, inclining to vermilion ; the under coverts of the tail 

 yellow ; the beak is dark horn-grey, shading to black- 

 brown ; the cere is blackish ; the eyes vary from sulphur-yellow 

 to dark-brown ; the eye cere is blackish-grey or black ; 



