128 ASH-COLOURED OR GREY PARROT. 



priate enunciation, used by carters in backing, that 

 is, making the horse, by a retrograde motion, place 

 the cart or waggon in the most convenient station 

 for loading or unloading. This term the bird one 

 day made use of, when a cart and horse had impru- 

 dently been left unattended for a short time, and the 

 horse, obeying the mandate of the bird, continued 

 to keep moving backwards, till both were precipi- 

 tated over the quay, and the unfortunate animal was 

 drowned. 



The * Grey Parrot is a native of western Africa, 

 from whence it appears to have been imported to 

 a very early period ; but common and well known 

 as it is in a state of captivity, its peculiar habits 

 and economy in a state of nature are still but little 

 and imperfectly known. Like most of its kind, it is 

 said to breed in the hollows of decayed trees ; and 

 the instinctive propensity for such situations does 

 not appear to desert it even in a state of captivity ; 

 for Buffon mentions a pair in France, that, for five 

 or six years successively, produced and brought up 

 their young, and that the place they selected for this 

 purpose was a cask partly filled with saw-dust. Its. 

 eggs are stated to be generally four in number, their 

 colour white, and in size equal to those of a pigeon. 

 In its native state, the food of the Parrot consists of 

 the kernels of various fruits, and the seeds of other 

 vegetables ; but when domesticated, or kept caged, 

 its principal diet is generally bread and milk, varied 

 with nuts, almonds, &c., and even pieces of dressed 



