io8 THOSE OTHER ANIMALS. 



made by one of these flocks is prodigious. The shrill 

 screams, the angry scoldings, and hoarse ejaculations create 

 a din not altogether dissimilar to that which must have 

 arisen from a city in ancient times when being sacked by 

 a victorious soldiery. Among the smaller species, such as 

 paroquets, every movement is marked by grace and agility. 

 They are restless and playful, and very affectionate in their 

 intercourse with each other. Attachment between husband 

 and wife is very tender and lasting, and the death of one is 

 generally followed speedily by that of its mate. We have 

 less opportunity of observing the domestic relations of the 

 larger parrots the macaws and cockatoos for few men 

 are hardy enough to support the noise of more than one 

 of these birds, and a scolding match between a cockatoo 

 and his wife would be sufficiently discordant to empty even 

 the largest house of all other inmates. It is singular that 

 the tongue of this, the noisiest of birds, resembles more 

 closely that of man than does the tongue of any other bird, 

 being singularly thick and fleshy ; it is doubtless due to this 

 peculiarity that it is able to imitate the tones of the human 

 voice so accurately as to defy discrimination. 



While cheerfulness, sociability, and activity characterise the 

 smaller parrots, the larger birds are marked by the striking 

 variation of their moods. At times they will exhibit for 

 hours an extreme restlessness, climbing up and down their 

 perches, hanging head downwards, and indulging in a variety 

 of strange antics. At others they will sit for long periods 

 almost immovable, being distinguishable only from stuffed 

 birds by the occasional droop over the eyeball of their 

 white filmy eyelids. The mental characteristics of the 

 larger parrots can hardly be termed agreeable, being marked 



