202 HISIOUI! OF 



sessed of another quality, which is sufficient to put an end to 

 this association ; their flesh is the most delicate imaginable, and 

 highly esteemed by those who are fonder of indulging their appe 

 tites than their ears. The fowler walks into the woods, where 

 they keep in abundance, but as they are green, and exactly t^ie 

 colour of the leaves among which they sit, he only hears their 

 prattle, without being able to see a single bird ; he looks roun d 

 him, sensible that his game is within gun-shot in abundance, but 

 is mortified to the last degi-ee that it 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 stripped the tree on which they sat of all its ber- 

 ries, 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 chiding their 

 destroyer, and do not cease till they see him preparing for a se- 

 cond 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 ne- 

 groes as their greatest tormentors. The flocks of parrots per- 

 secute them with their unceasing screaming, and devour what- 

 ever fruits they attempt to produce by art in their little gardens. 

 In other places they are not so destructive, but sufficiently com- 

 mon ; and, indeed, there is scarce a country of the tropical cli- 

 mates that has not many of the common kinds, as well as some 

 peculiarly its own. Travellers have counted more than a hun< 

 dred 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 the multitude of parrots which are seen in 

 its woods. There are white parrots seen in the burning regions 

 of Ethiopia: in the East Indies they are of the largest size; ia 

 South America they are docile and talkative ; in all tht islands 

 of the Tacific Sea and the Indian Ocean, they swaim in great 



