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P A 11 R T. 



wild state, even by the natives of those districts in 

 which itabounds ; but the nesting place, and materials 

 which it has selected in confinement, afford a sort of 

 proof that the dust of the decayed trees is the only 

 substance on which the eggs are deposited. The 

 bird is of very gentle disposition, easily tarried, and 

 by no means impatient of captivity ; and, like other 

 birds which are not over excited in this state, it is 

 sometimes bred. Buffbn mentions a pair which for 

 five years successively brought up their young in 

 France; and preferred to every other plaoe a cask 

 partially filled with sawdust, which is as near an ap- 

 proximation to a tree which has been hollowed by the 

 depredations of insects, and only a small portion of 

 the exterior left sound, as can well be supposed. The 

 eggs are described as being four in number, of a white 

 colour, and about the size of those of a pigeon. One 

 of the smallest-sized pigeons is indeed the European 

 bird which is most nearly equal in bulk to the grey 

 parrot. 



The bill of this parrot, though differently formed 

 from the bills of the American parrots, is an exceed- 

 ingly powerful instrument. In the course of this 

 work we have had occasion to remark again and 

 again, that dark-coloured bills and claws are always 

 the most firm and compact in their structure ; and the 

 strength of the grey parrot's bill is a practical proof 

 of this. It is true that it is not quite so mischievous 

 in the use of its bill as the green parrot ; but the bill 

 is a very efficient feeding instrument. The internal 

 part of the hook of the upper mandible is very much 

 roughened ; and the ridges on the interior part of the 

 palate, which occurs in all the nut-cracking parrots, 

 are very firm, so that the bird can use the bill very 

 readily in breaking the hardest shell of a fruit which 

 the gape will admit within it. The foot, too, is capa- 

 ble of being used partially as a hand ; and the bird 

 ean support itself upon one foot, while the bill and 

 the other foot are jointly engaged in preparinsr the 

 food. The bill indeed in this, and in several others of 

 the species, partakes something of the nature of a pair 

 of grinding jaws ; for the food can be worked about 

 in it, and held in its place by the tongue, until it is 

 reduced to small portions. In doing this, however, 

 there is a sort of deficiency in the absence of lips ; 

 so that when a parrot has to practise much of its 

 peculiar kind of mastication, a considerable quantity 

 of the food is lost, as the bird is quite incapable of 

 picking up small fragments. 



There are various accounts which appear to con- 

 firm the fact that this parrot is a very long-lived bird. 

 Instances have been recorded of individuals which 

 have lived in captivity to the age of fifty, of sixty, and 

 even of a hundred years. 



Le Vaillant gives an account of one which had lived 

 thirty-two years with a gentleman, after having been 

 previously fortv-one years with his uncle, and it came 

 into the possession of the latter as a full-grown bird, 

 though of what age is not known. Altogether, how- 

 ever, it may be presumed that this specimen could not 

 have been less than eighty years old at the time when 

 it was seen by the naturalist. It had then lost its 

 sight, and what may be called its memory ; which lat- 

 ter, by the way, is a necessary result of the loss of 

 sight. It was quite lethargic, speaking none and 

 moving little ; but it was respected on account of the 

 length of its former services, and it was kept alive by 

 biscuits soaked in Madeira wine. In the days of its 

 prime it had been a prince of parrots, for it was capa- 



ble of speaking many sentences, calling the servants, 

 fetching a pair of slippers, and performing various 

 other sayings and doings. In the sixtieth year of its 

 confinement, its aptitude appeared to be in a great 

 measure gone ; for it not only never afterwards learned 

 to articulate any new phrase, but very speedily for- 

 got those of which it had previously learned the arti- 

 culation, or jumbled them together in an incoherent 

 manner, the same as is done by human beings when 

 they have fallen into the dotage of old age. Till the 

 sixty-fifth year it continued to moult regularly every 

 year ; but at that time the red feathers of the tail 

 were shed, and replaced by yellowish-white feathers, 

 after which the bird moulted no more, but continued 

 in the same identical feathers to the end of its life. 



It must not be supposed that this loss of capacity 

 and memory on the part of this parrot was the 

 slightest evidence of anything in the least resembling 

 mind. On the contrary, they serve to reprove us for 

 an inaccurate expression which we sometimes apply 

 to human beings, when the display of the mind is 

 rendered less conspicuous by the decay of the body. 

 We are accustomed to say, in the case of such a per- 

 son, "the mind is gone ;" but nothing can be more 

 erroneous. From its very nature the mind cannot 

 undergo decay, and as the physical body is the in-" 

 strument by means of which the mind takes cog- 

 nisance of the physical world, it is quite evident that 

 the mind must be controlled by its medium of per- 

 ception ; and that which we call a derangement of the 

 mind, is, in reality, a derangement of the body, whe- 

 ther the derangemen tbelongs to the class of madness 

 or of dotage. 



The grey or ash-coloured parrot not only learns 

 to articulate clearly, and to whistle tunes with great 

 accuracy both of tone and of time, but it is capable of 

 playing a number of tricks which show considerable 

 skill, though by no means equal to those performed 

 by a well-trained dog. We can only afford room for 

 a sentence or two more on the manners of this highly- 

 interest'mg bird ; and we shall give these in a quo- 

 tation from Buffon. A grey parrot " being instructed 

 on its voyage by an old sailor, had acquired his harsh 

 hoarse voice so perfectly, that it was often mistaken 

 for him. Though it was afterwards given to a young 

 person, and no longer heard the voice, it never forgot 

 the lessons of its old master, and it was exceedingly 

 amusing to hear it pass from a soft pleasing voice to 

 its old hoarse sea tone. This bird has not only a 

 great facility in imitating the voice of man, but it. also 

 seems to have a wish to do so ;and this wish is shown 

 in its great attention, the efforts which it makes to 

 repeat the sounds it hears, and its constant repetition of 

 them ; for it incessantly repeats any words which it has 

 just learned, and endeavours to make its voice heard 

 above every other. One is often surprised to hear it 

 say words and make sounds which no one had tanght 

 it, and to which it was not suspected to have listened. 

 It seemed to practise its lesson every day till night, 

 beginning again on the next morning. It is while 

 young that it shows this great facility in learning; its 

 memory is then better, arid the bird is altogether 

 more intelligent and docile. This memory is some- 

 times very astonishing, as in a parrot which, as Rodi- 

 ginus tells, a cardinal bought for one hundred crowns 

 of gold, because it could repeat correctly the Apostle's 

 creed ; and M. de la Borde tells us of another which 

 served as chaplain to the vessel, reciting the prayer 

 to the sailors, and aftcnvards repeating the rosary." 



