366 The Hifeory of ANIMALS. 
The tail is fhort, but very beautiful j it is red in the middle, and yellow at the Tides, 
and in fome parts towards the edges variegated with blue and green among the yellow* 
and almoft all the feathers are black at their extremities. 
The legs are of a pale grey colour; they are fhort, but robuft, and the toes are 
long, and not fo thick and clumfy as in many others of this fpecies: the claws alfo 
are longer, flenderer, and fharper at the extremities than in almoft any other fpecies: 
they are of a deep black. 
This is a native of the American Iflands, but it is lefs frequent there than mo ft of 
the other fpecies; we have it fometimes brought over to Europe, but it does not fuc- 
ceed fo well with us as the others, generally becoming fickly, and lofing it’s feathers. 
Many of the writers on thefe fubje&s have mentioned it. Ray, Willughby, and 
others of the late ones have retained Aldrovand’s name of Pftttacus leucocephalos, the 
white-headed Parrot, though that exprefles too much, as the whole head is not white, 
but only the fore-part of it. 
Pfettacus dorfo cceruleo , ventre virefcenie . 
The Pfettacus , with a blue back } and gree?i belly, 
XUe blue 
parrot. 
This is an extreamly beautiful bird : our Englifh name but very imperfe&ly expref* 
fes it’s Angularity in colouring * it is fmaller than the common green Parrot: it does 
not indeed exceed a common wild pigeon in fize, but it is thicker, in proportion to 
it’s length : the head is moderately large and round ; the beak is not fo large as in the 
generality of thefe birds, but it is conftderably hooked, and is all over of a black colour : 
the noftrils are fmall, round, and lituated near it’s bafe; the eyes are bright, and their 
iris is of a pale brown, their pupil black. 
The head is of a bright and beautiful blue, but the region of the eyes is whitifh, 
and there is an elegant fpot of yellow on the crown: the neck and breaft are blue, but 
the belly is green, and the feathers which cover the thighs are of a beautiful whitifh- 
green : the rump is yellow; the back is of a beautiful ftrong blue, fometimes paler, 
but always elegant: the wings are variegated in an extreamly pretty manner with 
green, yellow, and red : the extream part of the back is yellowifh. 
The tail is fhort, and compofed of twelve robuft feathers, and there are a few 
fmall ones that cover the bafes of the others; they are all green : the legs are robuft, 
fhort, and grey, and the toes are fhort and clumfy j they are of the fame grey with 
the legs, or a little paler, and the claws are long, black, and fharp. 
This elegant fpecies is very frequent in the ifland of Madagafcar; we have it alfo 
from fome other places, but it does not live fo long, or fo healthfully, with us as moft 
of the others: it feels our winter very feverely, and ufually is in a bad condition, as to 
it’s feathers. Moft of the authors who have written on birds have defcribed it. Ray 
and Willughby borrow the name of Aldrovand, and moft others after them have alfo 
called it Pftttacus verficolor five Erythrocyaneus. 
Pfettacus cinereo fubcceruleus. 
The bluijh-grey Pfettacus, 
grey parrot. 
This is one of the leaft beautiful fpecies of the Parrot-kind that we are acquainted 
with, but it is valued for it’s great docility, and it’s articulate voice j it is of the big— 
nefs of a large tame pigeon : the head is large, round, and covered with broad fea¬ 
thers ; the beak is large, moderately hooked, and black the noftrils are round, and 
ftand near one another in a white membrane, that covers the bafe of the beak. 
The head and body are of the fame colour, which is a fimple, uniform, bluifh- 
grey; but the loweft part of the back, the belly, and the rump,/ are paler than any 
other part, and have lefs of the bluifh-caft than the reft. 
2 
The 
