TALKING BIRDS. 101 



birds do, the parrakeets take a good survey of 

 the neigkborliood, passing over it in circles of 

 wide extent, first above the trees, and then 

 they gradually drop lower until they almost 

 touch the ground. Suddenly they sweep up- 

 ward into the tree where they expect to get a 

 supply of food. 



Much of their time is spent in the trees, 

 climbing about in what seems to us an awk- 

 ward way, now hanging by their claws, and 

 now by their stout, curved upper mandibles, 

 the muscles of their necks being very strong. 

 And where do you suppose these birds roost ? 

 Audubon says that their roosting places are 

 in hollow trees and the holes chiseled out by 

 the larger kinds of woodpeckers. At dusk a 

 flock of these parrakeets may be seen alight- 

 ing against the trunk of a tree in which there 

 happens to be a large hollow. Just below the 

 entrance they cling like woodpeckers to the 

 bark, and then crawl into their warm couch for 

 the night. 



But we are most interested in the power 

 these birds possess to talk and imitate the 

 human voice. Not all the species have this 

 peculiar gift ; it is confined chiefly to the short 

 and even-tailed kinds, such as the common 

 gray parrot, and several others. The tongues 



