THE ROSE-RINGED PARRAKEET. 139 



of King Henry V. a singular poem was written by 

 Skelton, under the title of Speak Parroty in which 

 the essential characters of this species were well 

 described. 



In a state of domestication it is extremely affec- 

 tionate, and easily acquires a number of words, or 

 even sentences, which it utters with much distinct- 

 ness. 



Mr Bennet remarks, " To judge from the brief 

 descriptions of the writers of antiquity, it would 

 appear that the present species was then, as now, 

 more frequently brought into Europe than any other 

 of its group. The characters given by Pliny, 

 Solinus, and Apuleius, among the naturalists, and 

 the equally expressive phrases of Oppian and Ovid 

 among the poets, make no allusion to any of those 

 marks by which the Alexandrine Parrakeet is obvi- 

 ously distinguished : it is, therefore, probable that 

 the Rose-ringed species was that with which they 

 were most familiar, although the Alexandrine, and 

 one or two others, must have been occasionally 

 introduced." 



