.388 



PARROT. 



much less abundant now than formerly, there are no 

 parrots without the tropic in the northern hemisphere. 

 It is different in the southern one ; but still, though 

 parrots occur in Australia, in Southern Africa, and 

 in South America as high as the fifty-second degree 

 of latitude, which answers to that of the middle of 

 Europe, in the northern hemisphere, the country 

 there is tropical in its vegetation, and on this account 

 we might be prepared to expect that it should be 

 tropical also iu the character of its vegetable feeding 

 birds, and indeed in the greater part of its living 

 productions. That the vegetable and the animal 

 kingdoms should be adapted to each other in every 

 country, whatever may be the character of the coun- 

 try, is a law of nature from which there is never any 

 deviation, unless in so far as man interferes with the 

 natural state of things, by introducing artificial modes 

 of culture. 



The parrots are almost exclusively vegetable feed- 

 ers ; and the kernels of fruits, and the buds and 

 flowers of trees, are the chief sources on which they 

 depend for their nourishment. Thus they are fitted 

 for a peculiar locality, namely, one in which there 

 shall be for the greater part of the year a constant 

 succession of food for them ; and they could not 

 naturally exist in those countries where the woods 

 are for several months of the year not only flowerless 

 and fruitless, but also leafless. The forest birds of 

 temperate countries may be said to dwell in the 

 forests rather than to subsist upon them. This is true 

 of those birds of considerable size which build the 

 highest, and congregate in the greatest numbers at 

 the same place. The rook, for example, is in no other 

 wise indebted to the forest in which it builds, than for 

 dry sticks to construct its nest ; and the picking up of 

 these is a great improvement to the cleanliness and 

 general condition of the forest. It is the same with 

 the heron, and with all our larger birds which nestle 

 and roost in trees. 



In the tropical forests the case is very different ; 

 for the trees there supply both habitation and food to 

 an immense number of birds ; and, though different 

 species of these feed on different substances, the 

 parrot family may be considered as feeding upon the 

 trees themselves ; and therefore they are forest birds 

 in a more strict and exclusive sense of the word than 

 any other family which we can name. It is true that 

 they are not confined to the tree, for the greater 

 number of them are well winged and powerful flyers ; 

 but siill their flight is chiefly from tree to tree, and, 

 while the tree continues to afford an adequate supply 

 of nourishment, the parrots climb and scramble over 

 it with very dexterous rapidity, and scrutinise every 

 twig with the same perseverance as ruminating ani- 

 mals show in browsing their pastures. 



Though very many of them are noisy bird?, and 

 they are exceedingly numerous, there is really less 

 known of the parrots in a state of nature than there 

 is of almost any other family of birds, and especially 

 of any family which is so numerous. The character 

 of the tropical forests causes this, from the difficulty 

 with which masses of such tall and thickly matted 

 vegetation can be entered, and the impossibility of 

 seeing what is going on, even after an entrance has 

 been made. We know that they do inhabit the 

 forests, that their principal food is vegetable, that 

 they nestle chiefly in the holes of trees, and that 

 they are very noisy withal ; but these matters, 

 which amount to very little, constitute almost the 











whole of their history in wild nature, as known to 

 man. 



In their natural state, many of them are social 

 birds, often issuing from the trees in large flocks, and 

 laying the cultivated fields under pretty severe con- 

 tribution. Social birds are almost always susceptible 

 of being tamed in nearly the same ratio as they are 

 social, and the parrot family do not form an exception 

 to this. Some of them are much wilder than others, 

 and all of them are inclined to make very wanton use 

 of their bills, in tearing to pieces furniture and other 

 wooden substances ; but many of them are capable 

 of showing a very considerable degree of attachment 

 to those who feed and are otherwise kind to them. 

 Generally speaking, also, they suffer less from con- 

 finement in cages than most other birds, because their 

 climbing propensities enable them to take a great 

 deal of exercise even in a confined space. Their 

 plumage too is not easily ruffled ; it is less so indeed 

 than that of perhaps any other bird? ; and thus if a 

 parrot is properly fed, and enjoys wholesome air in 

 not too cold a temperature, there is seldom any thing 

 the matter with it ; and, nnder such circumstances, 

 it may be kept under confinement for a great many 

 years. 



Since a general intercourse was established between 

 Europe and the tropical countries, more live parrots 

 have been introduced than of any other tropical birds, 

 or indeed of any other tropical animals whalever. In 

 addition to the brilliant plumage and lively manner 

 of most of the parrots, many of them are easily taught 

 to pronounce words and sentences, and also to whistle 

 tunes with clearness and precision. Some of those 

 writers who endeavour to give an apparent interest 

 to their style, by elevating the animals to a rank re- 

 sembling, if not equalling, that of man, have supposed 

 that there is some sort of speculation in these birds ; 

 and that they suit not only their natural attitudes and 

 sounds to the circumstances under which they are 

 placed, but do the same with those words and sen- 

 tences which they are artificially taught to imitate. 

 There is of course no truth whatever in the analogy 

 which is thus attempted to be established. The 

 parrot of course understands not one word of what it 

 utters, and therefore, when it appears to give appro- 

 priate answers to questions, or to make remarks ap- 

 plicable to the occasions on which they are uttered, 

 it merely obeys the circumstances under which it is 

 placed ; and it is our ignorance of many of those 

 circumstances which makes us fancy that the bird 

 suits the word to the occasion. Though this sort of 

 prejudice has been held by many, it has never been 

 strong enough for becoming general with the public ; 

 for, on the other hand, " parrotting" has become the 

 name of that repetition of mere words by human 

 beings when the repeaters are uttcily ignorant of the 

 meanings of those words. We shall afterwards, most 

 probablv, have occasion to remark that there has 

 been a good deal of this parrotting in the attempted 

 natural history of the parrots themselves, a circum- 

 stance which is perhaps unavoidable, on account of 

 the very little which is known of the natural history 

 of the birds, or of the differences of habit between 

 those which are different in appearance. 



Still, the facility with which parrots can be made 

 to speak, to sing, and to whistle, renders them very 

 amusing birds ; and is a proof that, though all their 

 resources are of course purely animal, they are better 

 endowed in this respect thanmany other birds. Their 



