246 A DESCRIPTION OF 
tossing them into its throat by a sudden upright jerk ; it 
also fed on birds and other small animals. 
THE GREY PARROT. (Psittacus erythacus.) 
THE tongue of the Parrot is not unlike a black soft bean, 
and fills so completely the capacity of its beak, that the 
bird can easily modulate sounds and articulate words ; 
the beak is composed of two pieces, both moveable, 
which is a peculiarity belonging almost exclusively, it 
appears, to this tribe of birds. The bill of the Parrot is 
strongly hooked, and assists it in climbing, catching hold 
of the boughs of the trees with it, and then drawing its 
legs upwards ; then again advancing the beak, and after- 
wards the feet, for its legs are not adapted for hopping 
from bough to bough, as other birds do. Several stories 
are told of the sagacity of these birds, and of the aptitude 
of their interrogatories and answers, but they have been 
no doubt the effect of chance. 
Dr. Goldsmith says that a Parrot, belonging to King 
Henry the Seventh, having been kept in a room next the 
Thames, in his palace of Westminster, had learned to re- 
peat many sentences from the boatmen and passengers. 
One day, sporting on its perch, it unluckily fell into the 
