41 
REY 
Harrot. 
Psittacus erithacus, Linn., Lthm., Bchst., etc. 
Synonyms: Psittacus cum cauda rubra, Fnsch.; Psittacus Guineensis 
cinereus, Bess. ; Psittacus ruber, Sep. 
German: Der graue Papagei, Russ. French: Le Perroquet gris, 
ou cendre, ou le Jaco, Been. 
I T is almost superfluous to describe so well known a bird, however 
not to do so would be contra les regies, so we shall proceed, 
briefly, to remark that the general colour of the plumage is a fine 
pearl grey, the feathers of the head, neck and belly are margined 
with whitish grey, and the tail, which is short, is of a bright vermilion 
colour; the beak is strong and black, the membrane at its base and 
the circle of the eyes have a powdered appearance, and on touching 
the bird an abundant chalky substance adheres to the hand; the feet 
are ash-coloured, and the iris yellowish; black in very young subjects. 
Varieties of the Grey Parrot are not uncommon, and are generally 
supposed to come from the interior of the “black continent”: two are 
mentioned by Brisson, one of which, according to that naturalist’s 
account, has the wings marked with red, while the other has many 
red feathers mixed throughout the grey. 
One of the latter sort was shown to Latham, and stated to him to 
have been brought from South America, an account of its origin which 
that writer very sensibly rejected; remarking, that if it had been 
brought to England from America, it had certainly been first imported 
from Africa, as no Grey Parrots were to be found in the dual con- 
tinent, at least without some admixture of green in their feathers. 
We have also seen a very dark, almost Black Parrot of this species, 
which we were assured was from Ceylon; but, like Latham, we rejected 
this account of its origin, and, while admitting that it may have been 
