PARROTS. 33 



In countries where parrots abound they are destroyed with unrelenting perseverance, and 

 this simply for the protection of property. " People must not imagine," says Audubon, " that all the 

 injuries they are guilty of meet with no reprisals ; on the contrary, these birds are slaughtered 

 in great numbers during their predatory visits to the farmers. Armed with his loaded gun, the 

 exasperated proprietor creeps amongst them, and brings down eight or ten at the first shot; the 

 survivors rise screaming into the air, fly about in circles for three or four minutes, but return, 

 and surround the bodies of their fallen companions, uttering loud cries, and this is repeated again 

 and again, until so few remain that the farmer does not think it worth while to waste his powder 

 and shot upon them. Hundreds are thus destroyed in the course of a few hours, and baskets filled 

 with the spoils." 



Various are the expedients adopted for their destruction in different parts of the world. The 

 Chilians rush out with all speed when they see the parrots settling, and attack them with sticks. 

 The Australians rouse them from their sleeping-place, and then throw their boomerangs amongst 

 the retreating flock. Adventurous men let themselves down the rocks in which the South American 

 species breed, to draw the young out of their holes with hooks ; or shooting parties and hunters 

 endeavour to steal upon them unawares. When it is found impossible to climb the trees on which 

 they breed, these are cut down, and nets and limed twigs placed around to catch the young. The 

 flesh of the slaughtered birds is often eaten, although hard and tough, or is made into excellent 

 soup. 



Very frequently they are sought for on account of their splendid plumage. " There is nothing 

 more natural," says the Prince von Wied, " than this most simple and pleasing decoration, to 

 the use of which savages are much addicted ; and very beautiful are the articles made from 

 feathers by entirely untaught tribes ; many of the aborigines of Brazil particularly excelled in 

 this kind of work." The love for parrot feathers is very ancient. " In long forgotten times," says 

 Poppig, " the inhabitants of the tropical forests brought arara feathers as tribute to the Incas, for 

 the decoration of their palaces, and early historians inform us that these feathers and the ' Koka ' 

 were the only produce which led to the peopling and cultivation of the formidably hot districts in 

 which they abound." 



It is said that Alexander the Great brought tame parrots from India, and in later times these 

 birds were taken in great numbers to Rome, where the favour in which they were held was carried 

 to such excess that it was often reproved in the open forum. " Oh, unhappy Rome ! " cried that 

 severe censor Marcus Portius Cato ; " have we lived to see the day when our women nurse dogs 

 upon their laps, and our men go about with parrots on their hands ?" The Romans kept them 

 in cages made of silver, tortoise-shell, and ivory, and had tutors who particularly taught them 

 to utter the word Ccesar ; in those days the price of a parrot that could speak exceeded that 

 of a slave. Ovid did not consider it beneath him to sing their praises, and Heliogabalus thought 

 he could not set anything more delicate than parrots' heads before his guests. In Nero's reign, 

 it would seem, only Indian species were known ; but probably at a later period African parrots were 

 introduced. 



During the Crusades these birds adorned the houses of the rich, and the first discoverers of 

 America found tame parrots in the huts of the natives. Von Schomburghk tells us, that in their 

 native lands, when tame, they are allowed to fly about, without having their wings clipped. " I saw 

 many," he writes, " which joined the flocks that were flying over the village during the day, and 

 returned to their master's hut at night." 



In comparison with such a life as this the parrots brought to FAirope have a sad fate ; but tl-.ev 

 suffer most before their destination is reached. The Indians inhabiting the primitive forests capture 

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