GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



or 



PARROTS. 



It would appear that the eai*ly Greeks were 

 acquainted with only one species of Parrot, which 

 was first imported from the East by one of the 

 captains of Alexander's fleet. This was the species 

 known at the present day by the name of the 

 Alexandrine Pan*akeet, (^Psittacus Alexandria) so 

 named by modern ornithologists, in honour of the 

 conqueror of the world, through whose means it was 

 first discovered. Aristotle, the father of natural 

 science, speaks of it as a rare bird, which he had 

 merely heard of by report. On this subject, Gold- 

 smith remarks, " So generally are these birds known 

 at present, and so great is their variety, that nothing 

 seems more extraordinary than that there was but one 

 sort of them known among the ancients, and that at 

 a time when they pretended to be masters of the 

 world. If nothing else could serve to shew the 

 vanity of a Roman's boast, the PaiTot tribe might 

 be an instance, of which there are hundreds now 



