PARROT. 153 



plumages, and tails moderately long ; LORIS, which are 

 chiefly white ; and PARROQUETS, the smallest of the 

 genus, and yet at the same time furnished with the long- 

 est tails. 



Of all foreign birds, the parrot is best known in this 

 country, and is most admired ; nor without reason, as it 

 unites the greatest beauty with the greatest docility. Its 

 voice more exactly resembles the human than that of any 

 other bird, and is capable of numerous modulations, which 

 even the tones of man cannot reach. 



The facility with which this kind are taught to speak, 

 and the degree of memory which they possess, are not a 

 little surprising. A grave writer assures us that one of 

 them learnt to repeat a whole sonnet from Petrarch ; and 

 Goldsmith asserts, that he saw a parrot, belonging to a 

 distiller, who had suffered considerably in his circum- 

 stances from an informer his neighbour, that could pro- 

 nounce, in a very distinct and audible voice, " Thou shalt 

 not bear false witness against thy neighbour." The bird 

 was generally placed opposite the informer's house, and 

 greatly amused the neighbourhood by its persevering ex- 

 hortations. 



So numerous are the stones respecting the loquacious 

 faculty of the parrot, that they would form an agreeable 

 novel ; indeed, an elegant poem, called the Vert-vert, has 

 been written on this subject. The following anecdote 

 from Willoughby is perhaps more entertaining than the 

 generality of those in which the parrot is the hero : " A 

 parrot," says he, " belonging to King Henry the Seventh, 

 who then resided at his palace of Westminster, by the 

 river Thames, had learnt to talk many words from the 

 passengers as they happened to take water. One day, 

 sporting on its perch, the poor bird fell into the water ; 

 and immediately exclaimed, as loud as possible, "A boat ! 

 a boat ! twenty pounds for a boat !" A waterman, who 

 happened to be near, hearing the cry, made up to the place 

 where the parrot was floating ; and, taking him up, re- 

 stored him to the king. As the bird happened to be a 



