20 
ii leanings . 
a snake to frighten intruders; a few, like Mclopsittacus, indulge in a soft 
warble. Most of the larger kinds can imitate human speech — an odd char- 
acter, for which it seems impossible to suggest any usefulness. But almost 
all screech, uttering cries most discordant to the human ear. Parrots, like 
some other intelligent birds, but unlike all mammals except monkeys, show 
an instinctive dread of snakes, and when one is brought near them they get 
into a state of excitement and scream vigorously. Probably their discordant 
cries have a social character, for all parrots live in flocks and keep together 
by the noise they make." 
" A few parrots, such as the white and black cockatoos and the grey- 
green owl parrot, are self-coloured. The great majority are gaudy, the 
colours usually being disposed in sharply marked patches offering violent 
contrasts. The climax is reached by the macaws, but study of the cages 
shows that lories and lorikeets, conures and amazons, and many of the 
smaller parrakeets have leanings to' cubism in pattern and colour. It is 
almost as difficult to suggest explanations of the hues of parrots as of their 
cries. They cannot be ascribed to sexual selection, because with a few 
exceptions the males and females are impossible to distinguish. The Eclectus 
parrots of the Malay Achipelago have green males and red females. The j 
female of the crested cockatoo-parrakeet of Austrah'a has yellow marks on i 
the tail which are absent in her mate. The females of the green pigmy ' 
parrots of Papua are duller than the males. But these cases of sexual 
dimorphism are exceptions. The vivid colouration might be supposed to 
be protective in the bright light of the tropics, but these birds advertise their 
jiresence so noisily that a greater or lesser degree of visibility would seem 
to be indifferent. Possibly the exuberance of colour happens simply because 
protection is unnecessary. In the same way animals from the great depths 
of the ocean, where no light penetrates, are often marked with strange 
patterns and bright colours. In breeding time, on the other hand, parrots 
seek concealment in burrows or hollow trees, and their white eggs are always 
hidden away Parrakeets and the smaller parrots not infrequently 
breed in captivity. The newly-hatched young have a scanty down, often 
marked with streaks of bright colour." 
Many of our members will consider the above interesting- 
comments almost a libel on the I'sittaci, which have many 
admirers. We consider it too sweeping, though its main con- 
clusions cannot be gainsaid. The majority of this Order are 
certainly garishly coloured, and their colour areas somewdiat 
sharply contrasted, but it is not a colour comparison withotit 
harmony; also, there are a fair number, while still clad in 
tropical colours, whose garments are an arrangement of nicely 
blending colours. The most sharply contrasted .individuals 
are so to us. most probably because we see them apart from 
their natural setting. 
