THE PARROT. 



PLATE XXIV. 



Class Aves. * Order III. Scansoriae ; climbing birds. 



nus Psittachus. 



THE Parrot is best known among us of all foreign birds, 

 as it unites the greatest beauty with the greatest docility. Its 

 voice, also, is more like a man's than that of any other : the 

 raven is too hoarse, and the jay and magpie too shrill, to re- 

 semble the truth : the Parrot's note is of the true pitch, and 

 capable of a number of modulations that even some of our 

 orators might wish in vain to imitate. 



The ease with which this bird is taught to speak, and the 

 great number of words which it is capable of repeating, are 

 no less surprising. We are assured by a grave writer, that 

 one of these was taught to repeat a whole sonnet from Pe- 

 trarch ; and that I may not be wanting in my instance, I 

 have seen a Parrot belonging to a distiller, who had suffered 

 pretty largely in his circumstances, from an informer who 

 lived opposite him, very ludicrously employed. This bird 

 was taught to pronounce the ninth commandment, Thou 

 shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor, with a very 

 clear, loud, articulate voice. The bird was generally placed 

 in its cage over against the informer's house, and delighted the 

 whole neighborhood with its persevering exhortations. 



Willoughby. tells a story of a Parrot, which is not so dull 

 as those usually brought up when this bird's facility of talk- 

 ing happens to be the subject. " A Parrot belonging to king 

 Henry the Seventh, who then resided at Westminster, in his 

 palace by the river Thames, had learned to talk many words 

 from the passengers as they happened to take the water. 

 One day, sporting on its perch, the poor bird fell into the 

 water, at the same time crying out, as loud as he could, ( A 

 boat ! twenty pounds for a boat P A waterman, who hap- 





