570 .CLASS AVES. » 



posed on and subdued by the tones of menace and audacity. 

 It will always, however, prove very advisable to put on thick 

 gloves in dealing with them, to secure the hand from their 

 bite. By degrees, they will become docile to those whom at 

 once they fear, and from whom they yet receive occasional 

 good treatment. All these birds, when taken adult, 

 are very fierce ; and yet the savages tame them very 

 speedily, by means of the tobacco-smoke already mentioned : 

 this vapour produces in them inebriation and swooning; they 

 may then be touched without danger, and generally, when 

 the effect of the smoke is over, they are not so violent as 

 before. But if their temper is not so easily overcome, the 

 same operation is recommended, and reiterated until it suc- 

 ceeds, which, in the end, it never fails to do, at least to a 

 sufficient extent. 



All these birds are eminently destructive in their disposi- 

 tion ; it seems as if breaking and tearing every thing with 

 their bills, that happens to be within reach, constituted a phy- 

 sical want with them ; this is especially to be remarked 

 among the larger species. In a state of liberty they devas- 

 tate the trees, cut their branches, and despoil them of their 

 leaA'^es and fruits. In domestication, they will damage fur- 

 niture and every thing that is near them. If they are shut 

 up, and kept chained on the perch, to hinder this mischief, 

 they compensate themselves for the constraint, by redoubled 

 cries, by breaking their cage, and destroying their perches 

 with their bills. 



Ift the same way as the simiae of the New Continent are 

 not found in the old, so the American parrots do not inhabit 

 any part of the ancient world. It is also to be observed, that 

 each species remains within its owti particular district, 

 without mingling with others, or suffering them to mingle 

 with it. The same is true of the-ape genus ; each recognizes 

 its own peculiar livery, unites with its compatriots, and per- 



