RED AND WHITE PARROT. 



485 



since the generality of naturalists content them- 

 selves with repeating the Aldrovandine descrip- 

 tion. Our countryman Dr. Hill, whose works on 

 Natural History are not often quoted, assures us 

 that the then Lord Petre had a beautiful bird of 

 this species, which lived several years, and spoke 

 very articulately. Its size was that of a well- 

 grown Pullet; the bill remarkably large, very 

 hooked, and black : the whole bird of a very pale 

 and beautiful grey, having nothing of the dusky 

 lead-colour or blueish tinge of the Common Grey 

 Parrot, but a silvery grey, almost white; the 

 hinder part of the back and rump of a bright and 

 beautiful scarlet, as were also the larger wing- 

 feathers, making an elegant variegation in the 

 colour of the bird when sitting, but still more so 

 when the wings were in an expanded state: the 

 legs and feet were lead-coloured; the tail very 

 short, hardly reaching beyond the tip of the wings ^ 

 and of the same colour with the body. Dr. Hill 

 adds that it is frequent in some of the American 

 islands, and is also sometimes brought from Mada- 

 gascar, but this, perhaps, may be doubted. 



