PARROT. 



It is probable that there arc many varieties of this 

 species of parrot in size as well as in colour, and they 

 appear to be very abundant in the forests of the 

 richer parts of western Africa. 



Common Green Parrot (P. Amnzonius). This is the 

 favourite thick-bodied and short-tailed parrot of South 

 America : but it should seem that there are many 

 more varieties of it than there even are of the grey 

 parrot. The colours of the one in greatest request 

 are as follow : the bill blackish, the irides yellow, 

 the forehead bluish ; the head and throat yellow, but, 

 with bluish margins to the feathers ; the general 

 plumage bright green, inclining to yellowish on the 

 back and the middle of the belly; the bastard wing 

 red, the quills more or less mottled with green, black, 

 red, and yellow, and the tail of nearly the same colours. 

 It is, however, subject to great varieties of colour, 

 some being almost entirely yellow, some brownish, 

 and some yellow with red margins to the feather?. It 

 is not very well ascertained which of the varieties is 

 most remarkable for its colloquial powers, but the 

 green one is the one which is most frequently seen 

 in Europe, and it is one of the most easily procured 

 of all the parrots. It is rather docile, and not dif- 

 ficult to be taught to articulate ; but it is rather mis- 

 chievous in the use of its bill in pulling its cage to 

 pieces, destroying furniture, and performing various 

 other mischievous operations. The parrot which we 

 mentioned in a former part of this article, as piping 

 the boatswain's whistle, and giving the word of 

 command, belonged to one of the varieties of this 

 species. 



Green parrots of this species, or of others nearly 

 resembling it, are found in vast numbers in tropical 

 America, and especially in the rich woods which fringe 

 the valley, of the Amazon. They generally congregate 

 near the margin of the waters, and lodge in the man- 

 groves and other aquatic trees, where food for them is to 

 to be had at all seasons. They are much less frequently 

 on the wing than the maccaws and other long-tailed 

 raes ; but they sometimes make their appearance on 

 plantations near the woods, where they commit very 

 serious depredations by mangling and destroying ten 

 times the quantity that they eat. In a state of nature 

 they are strictly vegetable feeders ; but when kept in 

 confinement and treated artificially, they show a parti- 

 ality for animal food. Such food, however, if taken in 

 any quantity, does not agree with them, it stimulates 

 their digestive organs too much, and thereby injures 

 their health. -This is the case with all animals which 

 naturally feed upon vegetables ; and we believe that 

 the converse holds good, and that vegetable food in- 

 jures an animal naturally carnivorous, by stimulating 

 its digestive organs too little. 



The chief disease, however, to which these and all 

 the other habitually climbing parrots are most sub- 

 ject, when most closely confined in cages, is a sort of 

 gouty affection of the feet, obviously arising from too 

 little exercise being afforded for organs which nature 

 formed for very constant and very laborious action. 

 When one of those parrots is described, all may be 

 said to be described, with the exception of mere size 

 and colour ; but still we shall give a very brief notice 

 of another one. 



F<-stioe Parrot (P.festivus). This is an inhabitant 

 of the same country with the common green parrot ; 

 but it differs so much, that it is well entitled to rank 

 as a distinct species. It is larger than the other, 

 measuring about fifteen inches. Like that, it is a 



irrecn parrot, but the green is generally clouded with 

 white, and there are other differences. The bill 

 inclines more inwards at the tip of the lower man- 

 dible, and it is flesh-coloured ; the nostrils are very 

 conspicuous, placed in a cere at the base of the bill ; 

 a red streak extends from the nostril to the eye, and 

 a very narrow one across the forehead, just above the 

 cere ; over and behind the eyes the feathers arc 

 glossed with bright azure ; the external webs of the 

 quills are deep blue, and the lower part of the back 

 and rump are dark red ; the tail is the same coloui 

 as the body, except the margins of the external 

 feathers, which are blue, and a red spot near the base 

 of each feather, except the two middle ones. When 

 we speak of the tail of a parrot being squared over 

 all that is meant is, that the feathers are of equal 

 length, for each individual feather in the tail and the 

 wings, and their coverts, has its tip rounded off, and 

 a firm and well-defined outline ; and the clothing- 

 feathers generally have their terminations flat circles. 

 It is this peculiar form of the feathers which prevent* 

 them from being ruffled while the birds scramble 

 about among the branches in the performance ol 

 their natural avocations. All those South American 

 parrots are understood to nestle in the holes of trees 

 and to produce four white eggs in each hatch. The 

 young, when they first break the shell, are white 

 callow, and naked, and they arc first covered with 

 down before their plumage begins to appear. The 

 parent birds, therefore, require to feed them for a 

 considerable time, and they do this with great assi- 

 duity and attention. The pair have also a stroii" 

 attachment for each other, independently of the IIU-IT 

 fact of pairing ; and, indeed, parrots of all kinds are 

 remarkably attached to their own species. It is thi.-- 

 attachment which is the foundation of such teaching 

 as they admit of ; because those who attempt to teach 

 parrots to articulate words, or to do anything cl-fe, 

 alwajs begin by endeavouring to gain their favour. 



The anecdotes which are told of these birds are 

 very numerous, and some of them have the appear- 

 ance of being rather wonderful, but they are all easily 

 explainable on the principle of common animal 

 conduct without the slightest reference to the posses- 

 sion of reason or intellect. We shall not repeat any 

 of the anecdotes, but proceed to another section ol 

 the family ; remarking, as we pass, that there arc 

 several genera of short-tailed birds, approaching the 

 parrots in size and resembling them in manners, 

 which authors have described as different genera, it 

 not groups, though it is not easy to arrange them in 

 a manner quite satisfactory. We shall just mention 

 one or two, which are so differently named and 

 classed by different authors. 



Grand Lory of Latham (P. grandis, Kuril). This 

 is a bird of the eastern islands, and though not 

 perhaps entitled, in strict propriety, to hold a place 

 in the same genus with the parrots of Africa or of 

 America, it is still more of a parrot than a lory, 

 having the powerful bill and the fruit-eating habit of 

 the former. No doubt it is a red bird, and the lories 

 are, generally speaking, red ; but colour is only a 

 trivial circumstance. The bill and feet are black, 

 the upper mandible of the former arched and rounded 

 in the culmen ; the nostrils are hidden by the feathers 

 at the base of the bill ; the irides are yellow, and the 

 cheeks completely feathered ; the head and upper 

 neck are rich crimson ; the lower neck behind, the 

 scapulars, the back, and the coverts of the wings and 



