164 Parrots & Parakeets 



There are about eighty genera, containing some 

 five hundred species. 



The lories alone can fill a large volume, as any one 

 who has seen or possesses Mr. Mivart's monograph 

 with the beautiful coloured plates by Mr. Keulemans, 

 very well knows. 



Parrots have probably, amongst birds, been kept as 

 cage pets as early as any other kind, and every one is 

 familiar with the old grey Polly with the red tail, 

 from the frequenter of the gin palace to that of the 

 royal one. 



One sees them sometimes in cottages, where some 

 proud mother standing over her wash-tub tells you of 

 her sailor son, and shows you her parrot as the present 

 he brought her home the last time he set foot on the 

 shores of old England. 



Polly figures, too, in the best-parlour window of 

 some neatly-kept suburban villa ; her whistling and 

 talking issues from the inmost recesses of the landlord's 

 kitchen in a country village " pub " ; whilst up at the 

 big house on the hill she again finds a welcome and 

 a cage that is suitable to her surroundings, in the 

 spacious hall of the old manor. 



Drive down the Mile End Road past the People's 

 Palace : still Polly is to the fore, not perhaps in such 

 opulent surroundings, either with regard to herself or 

 her owner ; but still there she is, suiting herself to 

 those about her, and realising that if she lives in Rome 

 she had better do as the Romans do ! 



The consequence of which is, her language is not 

 always of the choicest ; and if by chance she finds her 



