TYPICAL PAEEOTS. 



191 



banana, grapes, ripe pear, or orange; and, as a.n 

 occasional treat, a piece of cracker or other plain dry 

 biscuit. Of course, pure water should be supplied to 

 these, as to all other Parrots, bat no other form of 

 drink. 



GKET PARROT (Psittacus erithacus). 



The adult bird is of a deep ash-grey, slightly paler 

 on the under parts ; the tail is crimson, the' beak is 

 black, the upper mandii/ble with a powdery white cere ; 

 the upper part of the face, which is naked, is also of a 

 powdery whitish character ; 'the feet are darkish grey ; 

 the iris of the eye, which is silver-grey in the young 

 bird, changes to pale yellow as it becomes adult. Female 

 more thick-set, with a broader rounder (head ; the naked 

 patch on the side of the headl rounded instead of 

 obtusely pointed behind ; the posterior angle of the 

 lower jaw more acutely pointed, the beak shorter and 

 more compressed just before the terminal hook ; as a 

 general rule the colouring isi deeper, but individuals vary 

 in this respect. Hab., Western Africa from Senegambia 

 to the Congo and! Prince Island ; also across the 

 continent to the Victoria Nyanza. 



Some examples have a good many red feathers 

 irregularly scattered over the body, and it has been 

 stated that they are sub-specifically distinct and occur 

 -only in the Interior ; it has also Ibeen asserted that these 

 birds are more talented as talkers, but this I 'greatly 

 douibt.* 



Dr. Otto Finsch, in his monograph of the Parrots, says 

 that in its native country this species is very abundant ; 

 it feed's on fruits and various seeds, but especially palm 

 nuts. Its breeding season is in December, after the 

 rains ; it selects, for purposes of nidification, a deep hole 

 in a tree, in which it deposits five white eggs. Within a 

 certain radius one may often find eome hundreds of 

 pains breeding, but rarely more than one pair in the 

 same tree.t The natives are afraid to take the young 

 birds from the nest, as they have a superstition that so 

 much heat is generated there as to burn one's finger (a 

 very natural superstition when one considers the 

 formidable beak of this bird) ; they therefore wait 

 until the young have flown and then snare them, after- 

 wards usually selling them to strangers at the rate of 

 about a dollar apiece. Dr. Finsch attributes the ab- 

 sence of Kites on Prince's Island to the fact that the 

 Grey Parrot is there so abundant. He says that birds 

 of prey are frequently seized and destroyed by them 

 on the wing. On the other hand, J. G. Keulemans, the 

 well-known bird artist and traveller, says : " On 

 Prince's Island we find these birds in great abundance, 

 while on the neighbouring island of St. Thomas not a 

 Grey Parrot is to be seen, a fact to be accounted for 

 by the large numbers of the Kite (Milvus parasiticus) 

 inhabiting the latter island." No doubt both views 

 are correct ; both of these colonies (or nations, so to 

 speak) of birds are powerful, each has a wholesome 

 dread of the other, and keeps to its own dominions. 

 This Parrot is essentially "gregarious; it not only 

 nests in communities, but it is always to be seen in 

 flocks. In time of danger (says Keulemans) the old 

 birds defend their progeny vigorously, and should the 

 enemy prove too strong to be successfully resisted by 

 one pair, other Parrots come up to their assistance, 

 and, joining forces, either kill or put the aggressor to 

 flight." 



Mr. Frank Finn, writing on "Birds Observed in 



* This, form is called the " King- Parrot " and is common at 

 Caesenge, in, the interior of Loanda. 



t On, the othr hand', Mr. Keulemans says : "Often in 0013 

 tree two or more holes ma^ be seen occupied 1 by hatching pairs." 



Eastern Africa" (The Ibis, 1893, p. 229), says that 

 P. erithacus is a " common pet with Hindoos, Goanese, 

 and Europeans, being brought down from the interior." 



According to J. H. Gurney (The Ibis, 1899, p. 29), 

 Le Vaillant speaks of a Grey Parrot which began to 

 lose its memory at sixty, to moult irregularly at sixty- 

 five, and to become blind at ninety, and died at ninety- 

 three ; but he thinks it hardly sufficiently established to 

 be included in an authenticated list of the ages to which 

 birds live. It is nevertheless quite likely to be a fact. 



Oscar Neumann (m the "Journal fur Ornithologie," 

 1899, p. 33) says that he met with a small flock of 

 Psittacus erithacus in Kiva Kitoto, in Kavironda, on 

 the east shore of the Victoria Lake the most easterly 

 point of its occurrence recorded and found it abundant 

 among the banana gardens of Ussoga, north of the 

 lake. 



F. J. Jackson, describing birds obtained in British 

 East Africa (The Ibis, 1902, p. 612), speaks of examples 

 of this species obtained by him at Entebbe as having 

 the "iris dark grey." This would give them a very 



THE GREY PARROT. 



different appearance from the ordinarily imported 

 Western specimens. 



Writing on the birds of Fernando Po, Mr. Boyd 

 Alexander says (The Ibis, 1903, p. 397) : "Constantly 

 observed passing high overhead in large flocks. It is 

 a migrant to the island." 



Few birds are more freely imported, and probably 

 none are more widely popular, than the Grey Parrot. 

 Nevertheless, owing chiefly to the unnatural treatment 

 to which these birds were generally subjected when 

 first imported, I believe that, up to the end of the 

 last century, Mr. Abrahams' estimate that only 2 per 

 cent, of those imported lived to become household pets, 

 was literally true ; and even now, in consequence of 

 the prevalent ignorance of the requirements of Parrots 

 in the case of many dealers and more purchasers, the 

 mortality is still much higher than it need be. Since 

 1898 I have waged perpetual warfare against the hope- 

 lessly injudicious feeding to which this unhappy bird 

 is generally exposed; and, from letters which I have 

 received from time to time, both from thoughtful 

 dealers and private individuals, I know that attention 

 to my directions for the treatment of the Grey Parrot 

 has resulted in the salvation of many specimens which 

 would otherwise have been irremediably lost; but so 

 long as purchasers continue listless respecting the com- 



