546 A VES— PARROT. -^ 



a strong horny membrane." In addition to the talent of speech, the parrot 

 is endowed with a strong memory and a high degree of sagacity. 



The bill is fashioned with peculiarities ; for the upper chap, as well as the 

 lov/er, are both movable. In most other birds the upper chap is connected, 

 and makes but one piece with the skull ; but in these, and in one or two 

 species of the feathered tribe more, the upper chap is connected to the bone 

 of the head by a strong membrane, placed on each side, that lifts and de- 

 presses it at pleasure. By this contrivance they can open their bills the 

 wider ; which is not a little useful, as the upper chap is so hooked and so 

 overhanging, that, if the lower chap only had motion, they could scarcely 

 gape sufficiently to take any thing in for their nourishment. 



The parrot, though common enough in Europe, will not. however, breed 

 there. The climate is too cold for its warm constitution ; and though it 

 bears our winter when arrived at maturity, yet it always seems sensible of 

 its rigor, and loses both its spirits and appetite during the colder part of the 

 season. 



The sagacity which parrots show in a domestic state, seems also natural 

 to them in their native residence among the woods. They live together in 

 flocks, and mutually assist each other against other animals, either by their 

 courage or their notes of warning. They generally breed in hollow trees, 

 where they make a round hole, and do not line their nest within. If they 

 find any part of a tree beginning to rot from the breaking off of a branch, or 

 any such accident, this they take care to scoop, and to make the hole suffi- 

 ciently wide and convenient ; but it sometimes happens that they are content 

 with the hole which a woodpecker has wrought out Avith greater ease before 

 them ; and in this they prepare to hatch and bring up their young. The 

 female lays two or three eggs, about the size of those of a pigeon, and 

 marked with little specks. The natives are very assiduous in seeking their 

 nests, and usually take them by cutting down the tree. By this means, 

 indeed, the young parrots are liable to be killed ; but if one of them survive, 

 it is considered as a sufficient recompense. The old ones are shot vv^ith 

 heavy arrows headed with cotton, which knock them down without killing 

 them. The food commonly given to these birds consists of hemp-seed, nuts, 

 fruits of every kind, and bread soaked in wine ; they would prefer meat, but 

 that kind of aliment has been found to make them dull and heavy, and to 

 cause their feathers to drop off after some time. It has been observed that 

 they keep their food in a kind of pouch, from which they afterwards throw 

 it up, in the same manner as ruminating animals. 



