PARROTS. 193 



parts of vegetables, bulbous roots/ and unripe 

 grain, when in a soft and milky condition. The 

 grasping power of the foot is commonly used for 

 the carrying of food to the beak, as if it were a 

 hand ; and the great mobility of the mandibles, 

 aided by the fleshy tongue, enables the bird to 

 discuss its food with much skill and discrimina- 

 tion, even to the performance of such a feat as 

 Mr. Martin mentions as having often seen : " the 

 clearing of the inside of a fresh pea from the 

 outer skin, rejecting the latter; the whole process 

 performed not only with facility, but with the 

 greatest delicacy of manipulation, if this term be 

 allowable." * 



Parrots are monogamous ; that is, a single male 

 attaches himself to a single female ; the eggs are 

 deposited in the holes of decayed trees, or in the 

 centre of the monstrous nests, so common in the 

 tropics, formed by Termites, the crisp, earthy 

 v^alls of which are easily chiselled away by the 

 strong beaks of these birds. They associate in 

 numerous -flocks, whose flights from tree to tree 

 present the most brilliant appearance, as the rays 

 of a tropical sun glance from their gorgeous backs 

 and wings. Their voices are loud and harsh ; and 

 of most of the species the screams have a piercing 

 and grating character almost intolerable. Yet 

 these are capable of wonderful modulation ; the 

 power which is possessed by many species of imi- 

 tating the words of human language, the notes of 

 vocal music, the calls of animals, and almost any 

 sounds articulate or inarticulate, is well known; 

 especially as developed by their extreme docility 

 and memory, in the education of a state of cap- 

 * Pict. Mus. i. 362. 



