THE GRAY PARROT. 



Fie, silly bird ! ' I answered, tuck 

 Your head beneath your wing, 



And go to sleep ; ' but o'er and o'er 

 He asked the selfsame thing. 



Then, smiling, to myself I said, 

 ' How like are men and birds ! 



We all are saying what he says, 

 In action or in words.' " 



WHITTTER. 



IN the parrot family, the African gray, with ashen 

 gray body, black bill, light gray face, and scarlet tail, 

 takes high rank. Until the bird is a year old the 

 body plumage is a darker gray, and the tail dark brown, 

 excepting close to the body, where the crimson shows 

 a little. The birds vary from twelve to fifteen inches 



(73) 



