PHYSICAL CHARACTERS 



OF 



PARROTS. 



Those animals which, in any particular, ap- 

 proximate to the nature of man, have always excited 

 in him more interest than any others. At the 

 head of these, among mammiferous quadrupeds, may 

 be ranked the extensive tribe of Monkeys ; and, 

 among birds, the tribe of Parrots. These are 

 analogically connected ; and both possess physical 

 peculiarities somewhat allied to humanity. 



Monkeys approach mankind in their confor- 

 mation, gestures, and in a distant resemblance in 

 the face. In the use of their hands they also bear 

 a striking similitude, while their internal organic 

 structure approaches, in a wonderful degree, to 

 that of man. Their faculty of imitating human 

 actions^ is not the least curious part of their simi- 

 larity; and if they had the power of imitating 

 articulate sounds, the resemblance would have been 



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