270 



PARROTS. 



Parrot and Parroquet tribe (and we may add the Toucan), 

 are comparatively very little known. We have already 

 noticed the Toucan and its enormous, though light, beak; 

 indeed, were it heavy in proportion to its size, the poor bird 

 would find it a sad inconvenience, not only preventing its 



Toucans. 



flight, but actually weighing its head down to the ground. 

 As for Parrots, we, who are accustomed to prize them as 

 valuable and scarce birds, are little aware of the actual plague 

 they are in their own country. Nothing can be more beautiful, 

 certainly, in description or appearance, than a flight of these 

 brightly-feathered birds ; but the husbandman, who sees them 

 hastening through the air, with loud and impatient screams, 

 towards his crops, looks upon them with dismay and detesta- 

 tion, knowing that the produce of his labour and industry is 



