526 



A HISTORY OF 



the bird hearing, cried out, Give the knave a 

 groat." 



The parrot, which is so common as a fo- 

 reign bird with us, is equally so as an indige- 

 nous bird in the climates where it is produ- 

 ced. The forests swarm with them ; and the 

 rook is not better known with us than the par- 

 rot in almost every part of the East and West 

 Indies. It is in vain that our naturalists have 

 attempted to arrange the various species of 

 this bird; new varieties daily offer to puzzle 

 the system-maker, or to demonstrate the nar- 

 rowness of his catalogues. Linnaeus makes 

 the number of its varieties amount to forty- 

 seven ; while Brisson doubles the number, 

 and extends his catalogue to ninety-five. Per- 

 haps even this list might be increased, were 

 every accidental change of colour to be con- 

 sidered as constituting a new species. But, 

 in fact, natural history gains little by these 

 discoveries ; and as its dominions are extend- 

 ed it becomes more barren. It is asserted, 

 by sensible travellers, that tlie natives of 

 Brasil can change the colour of a parrot's 

 plumage by art. If this be true, and I am 

 apt to believe the information, they can make 

 new species at pleasure, and thus cut out 

 endless work for our nomenclators at home. 



Those who usually bring these birds over, 

 are content to make three or four distinctions, 

 to which they give names; and with these 

 distinctions I will content myself also. The 

 large kind, which are of the size of a raven, 

 are called maccaws ; the next size are simply 

 called parrots; those which are entirely white, 

 are called lories ; and the lesser size of all 

 are called parakeets. The difference between 

 even these is rather in size than any other 

 peculiar conformation, as they are all formed 

 alike, having toes, two before and two behind, 

 for climbing and holding; strong hooked bills 

 for breaking open nuts, and other hard sub- 

 stances, on which they feed ; and loud harsh 

 voices, by which they fill their native woods 

 with clamour. 



But there are further peculiarities in their 

 conformation: and first, their toes are con- 

 trived in a singular manner, which appears 

 when they walk or climb, and when they are 

 eating. For the first purpose they stretch 

 two of their toes forward, and two backward ; 

 tmt when they take their meat, and bring it 



to their mouths with their foot, they dexte- 

 rously and nimbly turn the greater hii;d toe 

 forward, so as to take a firmer grasp of the 

 nut or the fruit they are going to feed on, 

 standing all the while upon the other leg. 

 Nor even do they present their food in the 

 usual manner; for other animals turn their 

 meat inwards to the mouth ; but these, in a 

 seemingly awkward position, turn their meat 

 outwards, and thus hold the hardest nuts, as 

 if in one hand, till with their bills they break 

 the shell, and extract the kernel. 



The bill is fashioned with still greater pe- 

 culiarities ; for the upper chap, as well as the 

 lower, are both moveable. In most other 

 birds the upper chap is connected, and makes 

 but one piece with the skull; but in these, 

 and in one or two species of the feathered 

 tribe more, the upper chap is connected to 

 the bone of the head by a strong membrane, 

 placed on each side, that lifts and depresses 

 it at pleasure. By this contrivance they can 

 open their bills the wider; which is not a lit- 

 tle useful, as the upper chap is so hooked and 

 so over-hanging, that, if the lower chap only 

 had motion, they could scarcely gape suffi- 

 ciently to take any thing in for their nourish- 

 ment. 



Such are the uses of the beak and the toes, 

 when used separately; but they are often 

 employed both together, when the bird is 

 exercised in climbing. As these birds can- 

 not readily hop from bough to bough, their 

 legs not being adapted for that purpose, they 

 use both the beak and the feet ; first catching 

 hold with the beak, as if with a hook, then 

 drawing up the legs and fastening them, then 

 advancing the head and beak again, and so 

 putting forward the body and the feet alter- 

 nately, till they attain the height they aspire to. 



The tongue of this bird somewhat resem- 

 bles that of a man; for which .reason some 

 pretend that it is so well qualified to imitate 

 the human speech; but the organs by which 

 these sounds are articulated lie farther down 

 in the throat, being performed by the great 

 motion which the oshyoides has in these birds 

 above others. 



The parrot, though common enough in Eu- 

 rope, will not, however, breed here. The 

 climate is too cold for its warm constitution ; 

 and though it bears our winter when arrived 



