THE ALEXANDRINE PARRAKEET. 



Palmorms Alexandri. Vic. 



The striking analogy borne by the Scansorial tribe of 

 Birds, and more especially by the great family of Par- 

 rots, to the Monkeys among the Mammalia, has been 

 repeatedly noticed, not only by professed zoologists, but 

 even by common observers. This analogy does not, 

 how^ever, depend in so great a degree as has been gene- 

 rally imagined by the latter class on the imitative talents 

 for which these tribes of animals have been celebrated 

 from the earliest times ; for in the one case it is the 

 voice, and in the other the actions, of man that have 

 been made the subjects of imitation. Its proofs should 

 rather be sought in the characters, physical and moral, 

 of the animals themselves, and in the peculiar mode of 

 existence resulting therefrom ; in the nature of their 

 food ; in the situations which they frequent ; and in 



