41 



igrREY fgARROT. 



Psittacus erithacus, Linn., Lthm., Bchst., etc. 



Synonyms: Psittacus cum cauda rubra, Fnsch.; Psittacus Ouineensis 



cinereus, Bess.; Psittacus ruber, Sep. 



German: Per gram Papagei, Euss. French: Le Perroquet gris, 



ou cendre, ou le Jaco, Been. 



IT is almost superfluous to describe so well known a bird, however 

 not to do so would be contre les regies, so we shall proceed, 

 briefly, to remark that the general colour of the plumage is a fine 

 pearl grey, the feathers of the head, neck, and belly are margined 

 with whitish grey, and the tail, which is short, is of a bright vermilion 

 colour; the beak is strong and black, the membrane at its base and 

 the circle of the eyes have a powdered appearance, and on touching 

 the bird an abundant chalky substance adheres to the hand; the feet 

 are ash-coloured, and the iris yellowish; black in very young subjects. 



Varieties of the Grey Parrot are not uncommon, and are generally 

 supposed to come from the interior of the " black continent": two are 

 mentioned by Brisson, one of which, according to that naturalist's 

 account, has the wings marked with red, while the other has many 

 red feathers mixed throughout the grey. 



One of the latter sort was shown to Latham, and stated to him to 

 have been brought from South America, an account of its origin which 

 that writer very sensibly rejected; remarking, that if it had been 

 brought to England from America, it had certainly been first imported 

 from Africa, as no Grey Parrots were to be found in the dual con- 

 tinent, at least without some admixture of green in their feathers. 



We have also seen a very dark, almost black Parrot of this species, 

 which we were assured was from Ceylon; but, like Latham, we rejected 

 this account of its origin, and, while admitting that it may have been 



