THE PIE KIND. 231 



is impossible to see them. Unfortunately for 

 these little animals, they are restless and ever on 

 the wing, so that in flying from one tree to 

 another he has but too frequent opportunities of 

 destroying them : for as soon as they have strip- 

 ped the tree on which they sate of all its berries, 

 some one of them flies off to another ; and, if 

 that be found fit for the purpose, it gives a loud 

 call, which all the rest resort to. That is the 

 opportunity the fowler has long been waiting for ; 

 he fires in among the flock while they are yet on 

 the wing, and he seldom fails of bringing down a 

 part of them. But it is singular enough to see 

 them when they find their companions fallen. 

 They set up a loud outcry, as if they were chid- 

 ing their destroyer, and do not cease till they see 

 him preparing for a second charge. 



But though there are so many motives for 

 destroying these beautiful birds, they are in very 

 great plenty ; and in some countries on the coast 

 of Guinea, they are considered by the Negroes as 

 their greatest tormentors. The flocks of parrots 

 persecute them with their unceasing screaming, 

 and devour whatever fruits they attempt to pro- 

 duce by art in their little gardens. In other 

 places they are not so destructive, but sufficiently 

 common ; and indeed there is scarcely a country 

 of the tropical climates that has not many of the 

 common kind, a&well as some peculiarly its own. 

 Travellers have counted more than a hundred 

 different kinds on the continent of Africa only : 

 there is one country in particular, north of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, which takes its name from 



