Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/135

 PARR PARROT 125 An edition of his works, with a memoir and selections from his correspondence, was pub- lished by John Johnstone, D. D. (8 vols., Lon- don, 1828). PARR; Thomas, commonly known as Old Parr, an English centenarian, born at Winnington, Shropshire, in 1483, died in London, Nov. 15, 1635. He was the son of poor parents, and after his father's decease continued his occupa- tion of husbandry. It is related in his biog- raphy that he was first married at the age of 80, and begot two children ; and after the death of his wife, he married again when about 120 years old. According to a current story, he was engaged in a love intrigue when about 105 years old, and was compelled to do penance for the crime by standing in a sheet in Alder- bury church. When a little over 152 years old, he was taken to London by Thomas earl of Arundel, but soon died, and was buried in Westminster abbey. The common traditions with regard to him, which have been called in question by recent writers, are derived from a pamphlet published in 1635 by John Taylor, under the title of " The Olde, Olde, Very Olde Man ; or, the Age and Long Life of Thomas Parr, the Sonne of John Parr, of Winning- ton, in the Parish of Alderbury, in the Coun- ty of Salopp, who was born in the reign of King Edward the IVth, and is now living in the Strand, being aged 152 years and odd monthes. His manner of life and conversa- tion in so long a pilgrimage; his marriages, aiid his bringing up to London about the end of September last, 1635." PARRHASIUS, a Greek painter, born in Ephe- sus, nourished about 400 B. C. He was the son and pupil of Evenor, and, although be- longing to the Ionian school of art, passed the greater part of his life in Athens. He estab- lished certain canons of proportion for the human figure which were adopted by succeed- ing artists ; and Pliny says : " He first gave to painting true proportion, the minute details of the countenance, the elegance of the hair, the beauty of the face, and by the confession of the artists themselves obtained the palm in his drawing of the extremities." In epigrams inscribed on his own productions he called himself 'AfipodiaiToc, the elegant, claiming a di- vine descent, and announcing that in his works the art of painting had reached its highest excellence. His most celebrated work was an allegorical representation of the Athenian eople, in which every quality, good or bad, iscribed to the Athenians, found its expression. Among other famous works by him were a Theseus, "Ulysses feigning Insanity," a Mele- Hercules, &c. He also painted pictures >f a gross and licentious character, two of 'hich, the " Archigallus " and the "Meleager 1 Atalanta," were so highly prized by the emperor Tiberius that he caused them to be j in his own chamber. The story told Seneca, that Parrhasius, when painting a 'Prometheus Chained," put anOlynthian cap- tive to the torture to obtain the proper ex- pression of bodily suffering, is unfounded. PARROT, the general name of the psittacidce, a family of scansorial birds, remarkable for the elegance of their form, the brilliancy of their plumage, and their docility and power of imitating the human voice. They have a large strong bill, much arched, with acute tip, and the lower mandible notched at the end; the upper mandible is movably articulated to the frontal bones, enabling them to seize larger objects than other birds of their size; the tongue is thick and fleshy, the wings and tail generally long, tarsi short and robust, and the strong toes directed two before and two behind, the former united at the base by a narrow mem- brane. These are the typical climbers, but are slow and generally awkward on the ground ; they use both bill and claws in climbing, and while feeding use one foot to hold their food ; though rather sedentary, most of them are good fliers ; the neck is short, and has usually 12 vertebras ; the sternum is long and narrow, with generally an oval aperture on its infe- rior margin on each side ; the structure of the tongue and the complicated lower larynx en- able them to articulate with great distinctness. They are confined to the warm parts of Amer- ica, Asia, Africa, and Australia, and generally to the southern hemisphere ; their food consists of soft pulpy fruits, especially such as have hard kernels or seeds ; they are usually seen in large flocks, active in the morning and evening, noisy and quarrelsome, destructive to vegeta- tion in their wild state, and very mischievous in captivity ; they are monogamous, and build their nests generally in hollow trees. This is a very extensive family, numbering about 300 species, and divided by Gray into the subfam- ilies of pezoporince, araince, Urines, cacatuince, and psittacincB ; the first four are described re- spectively under the titles PAROQUET, MACAW, LOET, and COCKATOO, leaving for this article only the psittacince, and the genus conurus of the macaws. Some of the parrots present rap- torial characters in the form of the bill, and especially in its soft skin or cere. Bonaparte makes of them a distinct order, placing them at the head of his system, separated from the typical scansores by the rapacious birds ; for the connecting links between the families see OWL and OWL PAEEOT. The only well ascertained species within the United States is the Caroli- na parrot (conurus Carolinensis, Kuhl) ; in this the length is about 14 in., and the alar extent 22 ; the bill is short, bulging, and very strong ; the head is large, the neck robust, and the body and tail elongated, the latter wedge- shaped ; the bill is white and the iris hazel ; general color green with bluish reflections, lightest below ; fore part of head and cheeks bright red, extending over and behind the eye, the rest of the head and neck gamboge yellow; edge of wing yellow tinged with red; wings and their coverts varied with bluish green, greenish yellow, and brownish red ; two