384 Miscellaneous. 



least striking of their costumes. He always at once engages in a 

 fierce strife with his rivals ; and his long beak gives him the advan- 

 tage over them." 



I can assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that a spectacle of this 

 sort, which I have witnessed hundreds of times, is one of exquisite 

 beauty, especially in a sparkling winter's morning, with the snow 

 on the ground, when the colours of the birds seem peculiarly gor- 

 geous. Nor do they appear to be injured by the cold : the grey 

 parrots have the sense to get into a house that was built for shelter 

 to them ; but none of the others can ever be persuaded to enter it, and 

 live in the woods the whole year through. But even the winter before 

 last, when the thermometer in my neighbourhood fell six degrees 

 below zero, though one cockatoo unaccountably disappeared, all the 

 rest appeared to be as full of life and spirits as possible. In fact, 

 so long as birds are well fed, and are in good health, I do not 

 believe that cold is fatal to them. Their migration depends alto- 

 gether on food, and not on the fear of cold. Even the delicate 

 little long-tailed titmouse, and the still more delicate little golden- 

 crested wren, and numbers of other seemingly tender birds remain 

 with us the whole winter through without appearing to suffer. The 

 fact is, that birds have such a wonderful great coat, such a dense 

 mass of down below their feathers, and have also, if I am not mis- 

 taken, such a supply of caloric, much beyond that of other animals, 

 that cold rarely kiUs them — though I do not mean to say that they 

 like it. 



It certainly, however, is curious that these African parrots, Bengal 

 parroquets, and lories from the Philippine Islands have never ap- 

 peared to suffer, even from our frost and snow. I may observe that 

 the gardener declares that the grey parrots foresee a storm, and often 

 take refuge in their glass-house before it comes. 



Nothing can be more striking than the contrast between the 

 plumage of the parrots when they first come, and its appearance 

 after they have been flying about for a few weeks, when it acquires 

 a gloss and glitter like that of burnished metal. Variety of food is 

 not less essential to them than abundance, and they also require 

 exercise. Some of them, who cannot fly, or who prefer moping at 

 home, always look woebegone, and are gloomy and irritable, while 

 the industrious Follies who fly about and help to earn their own 

 livelihood are cheerful, contented, and kindly. It is curious how 

 clearly they have the idea of property and possession. An old 

 parrot, who always sits in the ivy on an old waU, is just as indig- 

 nant if any other parrot seeks to share in his part of it, as my cook 

 would be if some of you insisted on taking up your residence in my 

 kitchen. Generally, however, they pay the utmost respect to each 

 other's prescriptive rights. 



We usually have got our parrots from Mr. Jamrach, who has a 

 shop near Wapping, and who buys all kinds of animals from the 

 ships that come into the docks. His shop is a queer place, and well 

 worth a visit. One day when I was there, he had in his little 

 backyard a crocodile 12 feet long, and another (a baby crocodile, 



