PARROT. 593 



The Portuguese, who fust doubled the Cape of Good Hope, 

 found all the coast of Africa, and the islands of the Indian ocean, 

 peopled with various tribes of parrots totally unknown in Europe, 

 and in such vast numbers, that it was with difficulty they could be 

 prevented from devouring the rice and maize. These, however, 

 were far inferior to the numbers and variety that presented them- 

 selves to the first adventurers in the New World : some of the 

 islands there were called the Parrot Isles, from the prodigious quan- 

 tity of these birds which flocked upon them. They constituted the 

 first article of commerce, between the inhabitants of the Old and 

 New Continents. In these regions every forest swarms with them ; 

 and the rook is not better known in Europe than the parrot in the 

 East and West Indies. 



The genus of parrots, which comprehends such infinite varieties, 

 may easily be discriminated from every other tribe by the formation 

 of the bill. The upper mandible, as well as the lower, in the whole 

 race is moveable. It is not connected, and in one piece with the 

 skull, as in most other birds, but is joined to the head by a strong 

 membrane on each side, that lifts and depresses it at pleasure. By 

 this contrivance, the bird can open its bill wider than it could other- 

 wise do, and thus receive large nuts and fruits, which it can break 

 with great facility. 



The toes of parrots display also a peculiar conformation : when 

 walking, two are placed before, and one behind j but when em- 

 ployed to carry food to the bill, one of the back toes is occasionally 

 brought forward. Both the beak and claws of the parrot are used in 

 climbing, an exercise in which the animal appears singularly awk- 

 ward : the tongue somewhat resembles that of a man ; and it is from 

 this circumstance, that some alledge it is so well qualified to imitate 

 the human speech. The formation of the throat, however, and the 

 cavity of the beak, all contribute to its articulation, and to confer 

 on it this distinguished privilege. 



Parrots in their wild state feed on almost every kind of fruit and 

 grain. Their flesh, it is said, always contracts the peculiar taste and 

 flavour of the food they eat. At the season when the guava is ripe 

 they are fat and tender, and some of the small tribes of the par- 

 rakeet are then sought after by the savages as delicate food. If 

 they feed upon the seeds of the acajou, their flesh acquires the 

 flavour of garlic ; when fed upon the seeds of the spicy trees, 

 their flesh tastes of cloves and cinnamon. The seed of the cotton 



VOL. V. 2Q 



