52 ALEXANDRINE PABBAKEET. 



exactly royal, not to say imperial aspect; but he is not a bad fellow 

 nevertheless, and, if taken young, can be made a very agreeable com- 

 panion. 



The prevailing colour of the plumage is grass green, the back of 

 the neck is marked by a broad crescentic patch of pinky-rose; and 

 a narrow ring of black, starting from the insertion of the mandibles, 

 on both sides, passes round the neck, forming a complete circle; the 

 beak is orange-red, and there is a large dull-red spot on the shoulder 

 on either side. 



The female may be recognised by the absence of the black necklet, 

 and is rather smaller than her mate, with a somewhat shorter tail. 



These birds breed in hollow trees, where the female lays three or 

 four white eggs : when the young are brought up by hand, they become 

 very tame and docile, and learn to speak fairly well; they are hardy 

 too, for one of them has survived in the Parrot House of the London 

 Zoological Gardens since 1873. 



It is somewhat doubtful whether this or the smaller Ring-necked 

 species is the bird that was known to the ancients, the Parrot of which 

 Aristotle and Pliny wrote, and in honour of whom Horace composed 

 one of his most charming poems. 



In captivity, this Parrot is to be fed and treated as already recom- 

 mended for the species noticed in the foregoing pages, not Lories; 

 namely, on seeds of different kinds, canary, hemp, oats, maize or barley, 

 and vegetables of sorts, such as carrot, potato, etc., whether raw or 

 cooked; but on no account should it be given either milk, sop, meat or 

 bones, and it should always have access to water, no less for drinking 

 than for bathing purposes. 



To us it is a mystery how, or where, the notion that Parrots do 

 not drink can have arisen in this country; and it will be no fault of 

 ours if it be not shortly relegated to the limbo of defunct superstitions, 

 in company with many another time-honoured, but pernicious, "vulgar 

 error." We positively lose all patience when we think of it, and are 

 compelled to pull up short, or we should go on descanting upon the 

 enormity and cruelty of the practice, until our readers grew weary and 

 closed the book in despair, not to say disgust, a consummation that 

 we hasten to avoid by passing on to the consideration of other matters 

 connected with our subject. 



Referring to the power possessed by these birds of contracting and 

 expanding at will the iris, a correspondent writes: "She (the Parrot) 

 has a peculiar way of contracting her eye when preparing to do, or 

 actually doing, anything mischievous : when so contracted, the pupil of 

 the eye appears as it were a mere speck of jet. I believe that her 



