NARRATIVE OF AN 



CHAP, at Sporkfgift eftate ; thefe animals not being quite dead, 

 XVII. fcratched me moft terribly with their fliarp claws, as they 

 are very flrong and tenacious of life. We had them 

 dreffed, and they made no bad foup ; they may alfo do 

 m a pye as rooks in England, but dreffed in any other 

 way they are tough and difagreeable. Thefe green par- 

 rots may be taught to fpeak, laugh, cry, bark, whittle, or 

 mew, but not near fo well as thofe which come from 

 Africa. It is faid, they are often intoxicated by the feeds 

 of the cotton plant. Thefe parrots are alfo fubjecSl to 

 fits, perhaps from their choleric difpofition, yet longe- 

 vity is peculiarly afcribed to them by the Indians : they 

 have ftrong hooked bills, which affift them in climbing 

 and cracking very hard nuts, and they fometimes bite 

 very feverely ; they delight in fwinging and balancing, 

 hanging from the branches of trees, and in their wild as 

 well as domeflic ftate ufe one of their claws as a hand to 

 take their food. 



In Surinam there are alfo fome beautiful paroquets, 

 which are a fpecies of parrots, but fmaller though not lefs 

 common ; the fineft of thefe is of the fize of a very fmall 

 pigeon ; they are of a lively green on the back and tail, 

 but the head and neck are auburn, the feathers on the laft 

 being edged with a gold colour, which gives them the 

 appearance of rich fcollops or fcales : the breaft is of a 

 leaden hue, the belly lilac, the wrings tipped with orange 

 and azure, and the bill of a very dark blue ; the eyes are 

 the colour of fire, and the feet' quite black. The other 

 I fpecies 



