THE BIRDS OF THE AVIARY 



281 



peacocks. In the present day parrot soup is 

 the choice dish of Cuba. , 



A parrot was seen for the first time in Eng- 

 land in 1504; and in 1704 there appeared in 

 Amsterdam a parrot of a species still very rare, 

 the black parrot of Neiv Guinea. Nowadays 

 the parrot is universally known and esteemed 

 as a house bird, because his sociable humor 

 and his gift of speech, together with the inter- 

 est he takes in the members of the household 

 and their doings, make him really very amusing 



The \\a\ V I'.aroquet 



and interesting. In aviaries the various exist- 

 ing species, of which many have a truly Oriental 

 magnificence of color, are a joy to the eye, and 

 form a brilliant collection that 

 can hardly be surpassed. The 

 innumerable species now 

 acclimated and bred in many 

 countries are difficult to 

 describe with precision. We 

 know the principal species to 

 be the gray parrot., or jako 

 {PsittacHS crithacns), with its 

 astonishing facility in speech, 

 the gray Amazon with yellow 

 head and blue forehead, very 

 popular in seaports, the cock- 

 atoo with the great curved 

 beak, the pink cockatoo of un- 

 certain temper, but cheap, the 

 white-tufted species, and that 

 with a yellow tuft. 



Gr.AV I'.AKnOl'lCT, OR Pdl-L PaKKOT 



Among the smaller parrots with long tails 

 is the A'eu' Holland{Psittacns iXovae Hollandiae), 

 a very beautiful aviary bird which is particularly 

 easy to feed. All the smaller parrots are espe- 

 cially suited to aviaries, which they fill with 

 gayety and color. The undulated parrot {Psitta- 

 cus undulatus), so called, can be bought very 

 cheap ; since Gould imported them into Europe 



The Green I'aroouet 



