C 5S ) 



O F T H E 



PARROT AND ITS AFFINITIES. 



TH E eafe with which this bird is taught to fpeak, and the number 

 of words it is capable of repeating, is furprifing. 



Willoughby tells a ftory " of a parrot belonging to king Henry the 

 Seventh, who then refidcd at Weftminfter, in his palace by the river 

 Thames, which had learned many words from the paflengers as they 

 happened to take water. One day, fporting on its perch, the poor bird 

 fell into the water, at the fame time crying out, as loud as he could, A 

 heat, a boat, twenty found for a boat 1 A waterman who happened to 

 be near, hearing the cry, made to the place where the parrot was floating, 

 and taking him up, reftored him to the king. As the bird was a favourite, 

 the man infifled that he ought to have a reward rather equal to his fervices 

 than his trouble ; and as the parrot had cried twenty pounds, he faid, the 

 king was bound in honour to grant it. The king at laft agreed to leave 

 it to the parrot's own determination, which the bird hearing, cried. Give 

 the knave a groat.'' 



In their native countries the forefts fwarm with them. It is alTerted 

 by fehfible travellers, that the natives of Brafil can change the colour of 

 a parrot's plumage by art ; if this be true, they can multiply fpecies at 

 pleafure, to the evident embarrafTment of nomenclators. 



Their varieties exceed an hundred : to repeat their diftindions, there- 

 fore, would be barrennefs itfclf, fince their general nature is fimilar, and 

 after knowledge of one or two, little novelty arifes from the reft. 



Thofe of the old continent may juftly be feparated from thofe of the 

 new, and divided into the cockatoo, the parrot, the lories, long-tailed paro- 

 quet, and Ihort- tailed paroquet : thofe of the new world divide into the 

 mackaws, the amazons, thecriks,thc popinjays, the long-tailed paroquet, 

 and fhort- tailed paroquet. 



THE COCKATOO 



IS the grcateft parrot of the old world, and feems attached to the 

 warmer climates of Afia, India, and the iflands of the Indian Ocean; 

 their name expreflTes their cry generally. Their white plumage, and 



K 2 rounded 



