PARROTS— MONKEYS. 



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flight is rapid, but of short duration ; so that evidently neither the groun nor the air 

 was destined for his habitual abode. In climbing, however, he shows an uncommon 

 expertness and agility, unlike that of any other quadruped or bird, as the organ he 

 chiefly uses for the purpose is his beak. He first seizes with his powerful mandibles 

 the branch he intends to ascend, and then raises his body one foot after the other ; or, 

 if he happens to have a sweet nut in his bill which he is anxious to preserve, he presses 

 his lower mandible firmly upon the branch, and raises himself by the contraction of the 

 muscles of his neck. On descending, he first bends his head, lays the back of his beak 

 upon the branch, and while the extended neck supports the weight of the body, brings 

 down one foot after the other. While accidentally walking on even ground, he also 

 frequently uses his upper mandible as a kind of crutch, by fixing its point or its back 

 upon the ground ; for the formation of his toes is such, that he can walk but very 

 slowly, and consequently requires the aid of that singular support. But if the toes of 

 the parrot are but ill adapted for walking, they render him valuable services in seizing 

 or grasping his food. They even form a kind of hand, with which, like the monkey, 

 he conveys the morsel to his beak. This easily cracks the hardest nutshells, after 

 which the broad and fleshy tongue adroitly extracts the kernel. 



In his free state the parrot lives only upon nuts and seeds ; when captive, however, 

 he becomes omnivorous, like man his master, eats bread and meat, sugar and pastry, 

 and is very fond of wine, which has a most exhilarating efi^ect on his spirits. Like 

 most monkeys, the parrots are extremely social. At break of day they generally rise 

 in large bands, and with loud screams fly away to seek their breakfast. After having 

 feasted together, they retire to the shady parts of the forest as soon as the heat begins 

 to be oppressive, and a few hours before the setting of the sun reappear in large troops. 



If the monkeys are distinguished by a strong afl'ection for their young, the parrots 

 may well be cited as models of connubial love, for when once a pair has been united, 

 its attachment remains unaltered unto death. Far more than the turtle-dove, the little 

 passerine parrot (^Psittacits passertnus) of Brazil, or the Psittacus pullarius, or love- 

 parrot of Guinea, deserves to be celebrated by poets as the emblem of conjugal affec- 

 tion. Never seen but in each other's company, each delights to imitate the actions of 

 the other, feeding, sleeping, bathing together ; and when one dies, the other soon fol- 

 lows its partner. A gentleman who had lost one of a pair of these inseparables, at- 

 tempted to preserve the other by hanging up a looking-glass in its cage. At first the 

 joy of the poor bird was boundless, as he fancied his mate restored to his caresses ; but 

 soon perceiving the deception, he pined away and died. 



Another point of resemblance between the parrots and monkeys is their talent 

 for mimicry ; but while the latter, favored by the similarity of their organization to 

 that of man, strive to copy his gestures and actions, the former endeavor to imitate his 

 voice and to repeat his words, an attempt facilitated by the extreme mobility of their 

 tongue and upper mandible, no less than by the peculiar construction of their larynx 

 or windpipe. The talent of speech has not been given to all the parrots alike. The 

 beautiful American Aras, for instance, are in this respect remarkably stupid, while the 

 purple Lory of the East Indies, and the gray African parrot (^Psittacus erithacus,) are 

 remarkable for their linguistic attainments. They are often able to retain whole songs 

 and sentences, and to repeat them with astonishing exactness. Thus Le Yaillant 

 mentions a gray parrot he saw at the Cape, who was able to repeat the whole of the 



