The Ring Paroquet. 
301 
the soft fruits, but sucks them by pressing its tongue 
against the upper part of its beak : and the harder sort 
of food, such as bread and pastry, it bruises, or chews, by 
pressing the tip of the lower upon the most hollow part 
of the upper mandible. 
Tlie Scarlet Macaw (M. Macao) is another large species, 
of a bright red colour, with some blue and yellow 
feathers on the wings, and blue ones about the base ot 
the tail. It was formerly common in the West Indian 
Islands, but has now become rare there. Its voice is 
very loud and harsh. 
THE RING PAROQUET. (Palaornis Alexandri.) 
This beautiful species, no less remarkable for the ele- 
gance of its form than for its docility and imitative 
powers, is supposed to have been the first of the parrot 
species known to the ancients, from the time of Alex- 
ander the Great down to the age of Nero. It is about 
fifteen inches long ; its bill is thick and red ; the head 
and the body a bright green ; the neck, breast, and the 
whole of the under side of a paler tint. It has a red 
circle, or ring, which encompasses the neck, and is about 
the breadth of a little finger at the back ; but grows nar- 
rower by degrees towards the sides, and ends under the 
lower bill. The lower part of the body is of so faint 
a green, that it seems almost yellow. The tail also is of 
a yellowish green, and the legs and feet ash-coloured. 
