THE GREY PARROT. 355 
It is a native of Western Africa, and is one of the commonest inhabitants 
of our aviaries, being brought over in great numbers by sailors, and always 
finding a ready sale as soon as the vessel arrives in port. 
Its power of imitating all kinds of sounds is really astonishing. I have 
heard a Parrot imitate, or rather reproduce, in rapid succession the most 
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GREY PARROT. —(Psztlacus erythacus.) 
dissimilar of sounds, without the least effort and with the most astonishing 
truthfulness. He could whistle lazily like a street idler, cry prawns and 
shrimps as well as any costermonger, creak like an ungreased “sheave” in 
the pulley that is set in the blocks through which ropes run for sundry nautical 
purposes, or keep up a quiet and gentle monologue about his own accom- 
plishments with a simplicity of attitude that was most absurd. 
AA2 
