Gray and Vasa Parrots 473 



with papillae. The best-known member of the genus, and for that matter per- 

 haps of the entire suborder, is the Common Gray Parrot (P. erithacus], which 

 ranges from Senegambia to equatorial Africa in a wild state, but which has been 

 known in Europe and other parts of the world for hundreds of years as a cage 

 bird. While perhaps too familiar to need description, the Gray Parrot may be 

 briefly described as ash-colored, becoming much lighter on rump and abdomen, 

 while the primaries are blackish, with a gray tinge toward the base, and the 

 tail, with its upper and under coverts, red; the total length is about thirteen 

 inches. This bird is probably the most accomplished talker of the whole group 

 of Parrots, and, did space permit, a whole chapter might be filled with circum- 

 stantial accounts of its accomplishments. "Contrary to what prevails among 

 higher bipeds, the male is commonly the more valuable and fluent speaker of 

 the two, although the female pronounces her words more distinctly." Curi- 

 ously enough, neither of the other species in this genus is known to be talkative, 

 so this attainment is purely individual, which does not seem to be the case with 

 the American Amazons. The Gray Parrot, and in fact all the Parrots, are very 

 long-lived, there being authentic accounts of their living from fifty to eighty 

 years. In a wild state this species is more or less sociable, feeding and even 

 breeding in small companies. 



The Vasa Parrots (Coracopsls) to the number of five species are confined 

 to Madagascar and neighboring islands, while the Black Parrot (Dasyptilus 

 pesqueti}, the sole representative of its genus, is found only in New Guinea. 

 The first, which attains a length of about twenty inches, has the plumage blackish 

 or brownish, while the latter is black throughout except for the abdomen, sides, 

 upper and under tail-coverts, as well as large portions of the wings, which 

 are red. But little is known of their habits in a wild state. 



We come now to the True Parakeets, a large, exclusively Old World group 

 of some fifteen genera and one hundred and twenty-five species. The exact 

 definition of this group is difficult, at least from purely external characters, yet 

 in general they may be known by a moderate or very strong bill which is deeper 

 than long and usually red in color, at least in the males, while the cere extends 

 as a band of equal width around the whole base of the bill and is generally partly 

 feathered. The tail is variable, being sometimes very long and graduated, 

 sometimes short and square or wedge-shaped; the sexes are mostly different. 

 As an example of the striking differences in this latter particular, mention may 

 be made of the Eclectus Parrots (Eclectus) of the Molucca and Papuan islands, 

 in which the males are green and the females mostly bright red, the contrast 

 being so great between them as to make it difficult of credence that they can 

 belong to the same species. 



True Parakeets. Passing over several genera of the Oriental region, in 

 which this sexual difference is marked to a greater or less degree, but of which 

 little is known in a wild state, we come to the true Parakeets (Palaornis), which 

 are distinguished at once by a very long, graduated tail, the feathers of which, 

 but especially the two central ones, are very narrow. They comprise a very 

 large genus of twenty-five species, and range from Africa north of the equator 



