BIRDS. :^05 



hundred kinds now known ; not one of which naturally breeds in 

 the countries that acknowledged the Roman power. The green 

 parakeet, with a red neck, was the first of this kind that was 

 brought into Europe, and the only one that was known to the 

 ancients, from the time of Alexander the Great to the age of 

 Nero : this was brought from India ; and when afterwards the 

 Romans began to seek and rummage through all their domin- 

 ions, for new and unheard-of luxuries, they at last found out 

 others in Gaganda, an island of Ethiopia, which they considered 

 as an extraordinary discovery. 



Parrots have usually the same disorders with other birds ; and 

 they have one or two peculiar to their kind. They are some- 

 bill ran roaoh. They spare, however, the quills of the wings and tail, the 

 plucking out of whicli would cause them too much pain. M. Ucsmarcst 

 montions an instance of one of these birds bolonging to M. Latroillo, the 

 body of wliich thus became as naked as that of a pullet plucked for roasting. 

 This bird, notwithstanding, supported the rigour of two very severe win 

 ters, without the slightest alteration of health or appetite. M. Viellot ob- 

 serves, that this habit of deplumation is produced, in many parrots, by an 

 itching of the skin, and not in consequence of their being accustomed to eat 

 animal substances. 



The parrots drink little, but often, and do it raising up the head, but less 

 strongly than other birds. The major portion of them may be accustomed, 

 in domestication, to drink wine, or, at all events, to eat bread wliich has 

 been steeped in wine. They all use, with great dexterity, one of their feet, 

 to carry their food tt- their bills, while they stand perched on the other. 



These birds sojourn much on the borders of streams and rivers, and in 

 marshy places. They are fond of the water, and seem to take the greatest 

 delight in bathmg themselves, an operation which they perform several 

 times a-day, when in a state of nature. When they have bathed, they shake 

 their plumage, until the greatest portion of the water is expelled, and then 

 expose themselves to the snn, until their feathers are completely dried. In 

 captivity, and even during the most rigorous seasons, they seek to bathe ; 

 and, at all events, plunge the head repeatedly into water. 



With the exception of the time of incubation, the parrots live in flocks, more 

 or less numerous ; go to sleep at the setting, and awake at the rising of the 

 sun. In sleep, they tiu-n the head upon the back. Their sleep is light ; and 

 it is not unfrequent to hear them utter some cries dutring the night. In a 

 state of domestication, after they go to rest, is said to be the most suitable 

 time for repeating to them such words as they are intended to learn, be 

 cause they then experience no distraction. 



Their life is very long ; and the mean duration of it, among the parrots, 



properly so called, is calculated at forty years. Instances, however, liave 



' been known, of individualswhichlived in a state of domestication ninety, 



and even a hundred years and more. The parakeets generally live about 



five and twenty years. 



111. Q 



