7a 
HISTORY OF THE PARROTS, 
OR 
FAMILY PSITTACIDjE. 
In presenting to our readers a volume containing 
the natural history of the Parrots, or family Psitta- 
cidce, we have to direct their attention to an assem- 
blage of birds, not less remarkable for the peculiarity 
of their form, the gay, varied, and in many instances, 
splendid plumage in which they are attired, than for 
the intelligence and docility so many evince in a state 
of captivity or domestication, and the peculiar faci- 
lity possessed by several species of imitating the in- 
tonations of the human voice, and learning by rote 
words, and even sentences, "which they remember 
and repeat with clearness and precision ; a faculty, 
it may be remarked, confined to these birds, and to 
some few of the Sturnidce and Corvidi e members of 
the Conirostral Tribe, — another primary division of 
the Typical Order Insessores. 
