Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/206

Rh parts of vegetables, bulbous roots, and unripe grain, when in a soft and milky condition. The grasping power of the foot is commonly used for the carrying of food to the beak, as if it were a hand; and the great mobility of the mandibles, aided by the fleshy tongue, enables the bird to discuss its food with much skill and discrimination, even to the performance of such a feat as Mr. Martin mentions as having often seen: "the clearing of the inside of a fresh pea from the outer skin, rejecting the latter; the whole process performed not only with facility, but with the greatest delicacy of manipulation, if this term be allowable."

Parrots are monogamous; that is, a single male attaches himself to a single female; the eggs are deposited in the holes of decayed trees, or in the centre of the monstrous nests, so common in the tropics, formed by Termites, the crisp, earthy walls of which are easily chiselled away by the strong beaks of these birds. They associate in numerous flocks, whose flights from tree to tree present the most brilliant appearance, as the rays of a tropical sun glance from their gorgeous backs and wings. Their voices are loud and harsh; and of most of the species the screams have a piercing and grating character almost intolerable. Yet these are capable of wonderful modulation; the power which is possessed by many species of imitating the words of human language, the notes of vocal music, the calls of animals, and almost any sounds articulate or inarticulate, is well known; especially as developed by their extreme docility and memory, in the education of a state of