52 THE PARROT. 



which appears so singular, that it would never have obtained 

 credit, had it not been sanctioned by respectable authority. 



Willoughby tells us, that a parrot belonging to King Henry 

 the Seventh, who then resided in his palace at Westminster, had 

 learned many words and phrases from the passengers who took 

 the water near that place. Sporting one day on his perch, the 

 poor bird had the misfortune to fall into the Thames. He im- 

 mediately called out as loud as he was able, " A boat, twenty 

 pounds for a boat !" A waterman, hearing the parrot's liberal 

 offer, made to the place where he was floating, and took him 

 up. The man, knowing the bird to be a favourite, insisted on 

 the full reward it had promised, and agreed that the matter 

 should be left to its decision ; which the parrot hearing, cried 

 out, " Give the knave a groat." 



Linnaeus makes forty-seven, and Latham near a hundred and 

 fifty species of this beautiful and sagacious bird ; but probably 

 no naturalist has enumerated one-half of its varieties. The dis- 

 tinguishing characteristics, however, of the whole tribe, are, that 

 the beak is hooked, and the upper, as well as the lower mandi- 

 ble, moveable ; the nostrils placed at the bottom of the beak ; 

 the tongue fleshy and obtuse ; and the feet furnished with two 

 toes before, and two behind, calculated for the purpose of climb- 

 ing and clinging to trees. 



Notwithstanding the endless varieties found in this numerous 

 tribe of birds, they are generally divided into four classes ; the 

 macaw, which is considerably the largest, and nearly equal to the 

 raven in size ; the parrot, properly so called ; the lories, which 

 are less than the parrot ; and, lastly, the parroquet, which is the 

 least of all, and of which some varieties are not larger than the 

 common sparrow. Between these species the difference is 

 rather in size than conformation, and they have all the same 

 general habits. 



The parrot, although very commonly domesticated in Europe, 

 will not breed in this quarter of the globe, by reason of the cold- 

 ness of the climate; and although it can, when arrived at ma- 

 turity, bear our winters, without being materially injured, it ap- 

 pears sensible of their severity, and loses its spirit and loqua- 

 cious vivacity during the rigorous part of the season. 



In the tropical climates, they are exceedingly numerous. The 

 forests swarm with their different varieties ; and the vivid colours 

 of their plumage are an additional ornament to the luxuriance 

 of vegetation under those genial skies, and give an air of vivacity 

 to the scene. Nothing in Nature, indeed, can have a more 

 beautiful appearance, than forests of lofty trees, clothed with 

 the most luxuriant foliage, of an endless variety of forms and 



