INTRODUCTION. 



"DO PARROTS DRINK ?" 



rpiO be again asked the above question, after all we have written upon the 

 -*- subject, in the course of this work, and elsewhere, is, we must confess, 

 not a little disappointing. 



Nevertheless, to get out of temper and return a short answer would not 

 be likely to mend matters, but, on the contrary, to harden the queriest in 

 his objectionable ways; so we reply, as meekly as we can, "They do." "I 

 have had my Parrot for thirty years, and it has never had a drop of water 

 all the time," persists our interlocutor, and we reply: "That only proves 

 that your bird is possessed of an exceptionally strong constitution, and not 

 that your method of management is correct." 



As a matter of fact we have seen all kinds of Parrots resorting to water 

 in their native country, and drinking freely morning and evening; and we 

 know that they traverse considerable distances for the purpose of quenching 

 their thirst. 



At the same time it must be remembered that in the regions they chiefly 

 inhabit, the dew falls much more heavily than it does with us, and the 

 Parrots are enabled to suck a considerable amount of moisture from the 

 leaves of the trees they inhabit, or from the grass, among which many 

 species seek their food on the ground; yet all these birds frequent the 

 waterholes both for drinking and bathing, and should not be debarred from 

 following in captivity a propensity that is not only not hurtful, but, on the 

 contrary, is indispensable to their well being. 



The deprivation of water acts injuriously on Parrots in many ways : in the 

 first place it causes them to eat more of the "sop" with which their owners 

 usually supply them, than they can digest ; the result being dyspepsia, with 



