GREY FAnUOT.—Psittaais erythaais. 



The Geey Paeeot has long been celebrated for its wonderful powers of imitation and 

 its excellent memory. 



It is a native of Western Africa, and is one of the commonest inhabitants of our 

 aviaries, being brought over in great numbers by sailors, and always finding a ready sale 

 as soon as the vessel ai-rives in port. Unfortunately the nautical vocabidary is none of 

 the most refined, and the sailors have a malicious pleasure in teaching the birds to repeat 

 some of the most startliug of their phrases. The worst of the matter is, that the Parrot's 

 memory is wonderfully tenacious, and even after the lapse of years, and in spite of the 

 most moral training, the bu-d is apt to break out suddenly with a string of very reprehen- 

 sible obsen'ations affecting the eyes, limbs, and general persons of his hearers. 



There is no doubt that the Parrot learns in course of time to attach some amount of 

 meaning to the words which it repeats, for the instances of its apposite answers are too 

 numerous and convincing not to prove that the bu-d knows the general sense of tlie phrase, 

 if not the exact force of each word. 



I am imwilKng to reproduce narratives which I have akeady published, and therefore 

 restrict myself to one or two original anecdotes. 



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