THE PARROT TRIBES. 
CHAPTER I. 
STORIES OF FAMOUS PARROTS. 
By way of apology to such clever talkers as the raven, mag- 
pie, starling, &c., it may be as well to state that it is by no 
means on account of superior intelligence that the parrot 
tribes are here allowed to take precedence of all other birds. As 
will hereafter be shown, the raven is capable of understanding 
the nature of an interrogatory by the applicability of its imme- 
diate response ; while in the case of the parrot, it is rare that 
he advances beyond a few set phrases, used with little or no dis- 
crimination. 
Without doubt, however, there have existed, and at the 
present writing exist, hundreds of parrots, parrakeets, and 
lories, capable of saying and doing wonderful things. In the 
“ dark ages,” parrots were in good odour with the priests of 
