12 THE PARROT TRIBES. 
is accordingly in those regions where trees are clothed with 
perpetual verdure, and where a never -failing succession of fruit 
and seed can be procured, that parrots are found in the great- 
est number and profusion. Thus the recesses of the endless 
forests of South America are enlivened by the presence of the 
superb macaws ; those of India and its islands, by the scarlet- 
clothed lories and their elegantly -formed congeners ; while those 
of Australia resound with the harsh voices of the cockatoos, 
and the shriller scream of the parrakeets. In these, their na- 
tural situations, their movements are marked by an ease and 
gracefulness which are never exhibited in confinement. 
The Grey Parrot. — This bird, both on account of its doci- 
lity and superior intelligence, is entitled to rank foremost in 
the parrot family. It is a native of Guinea and other of the 
hottest parts of Africa. In size, the grey parrot varies from 
nine to twelve inches in length. The bill is black, strong, and 
much hooked, and the orbits and space between them and the 
eyes covered with a bald and white skin. The entire body is 
of a combined pearl grey and slate colour. The feathers of the 
head, neck, and under parts of the body, are also edged with a 
greyish white. The tail is of a deep bright scarlet. The feet and 
toes are grey, tinged with red. It is one of the most healthy 
and long-lived of the parrot family; indeed, Le Yaillant makes 
mention of one he saw at Amsterdam, that ‘ had attained its 
eighty -first year. It is, however, only fan to state that any- 
thing like vigour had long since departed from the bird in 
question ; it was shaky, blind, and decrepit, and as exactly “ on 
its last legs ” as possible. It wandered in its speech and jabbered 
idiotically, and would take no other food than biscuit soaked in 
Madeira wine. It had been a remarkably clever bird in its time ; 
would call the servants by name, fetch its master’s slippers, and 
otherwise exhibit an uncommon degree of intelligence. Up to the 
age of sixty, it retained its full vigour and capacity for learning, 
in a day or two, any new phrase that was offered it ; soon after, 
however, its memory began to fail, and it began to mix, with 
the sentences it had so often repeated, scraps of its proper 
parrot language — declined indeed to second fledgling-hood. It 
moulted regularly for sixty -five years, and then the process 
became irregular, its tail grew yellow, and no further change 
of plumage took place. 
The Green Amazon. — This bird is one of the most desirable 
of the parrot family. In the first place, it is certainly the 
cheapest. Persons desirous of purchasing a parrot at a cheap 
