The classification of parrots is particularly difficult, on account of the great number of species, and it is almost impossible to indicate distinct boundaries between the different families. It will, however, answer our present purpose to arrange them under the general titles of TRUE PARROTS (_Psittacinæ_), MACAWS (_Arainæ_), LORIES (_Lorinæ_), COCKATOOS (_Cacatuinæ_), and GROUND PARROTS (_Pezoporinæ_), all of which differ from each other more or less in their habits and modes of life. THE TRUE PARROTS (_Psittacinæ_) are inhabitants of the woods, only leaving them to linger on their outskirts, and from thence to contemplate the tempting fields of fruit, upon which from time to time they make a raid. Many of them never quit their dense forests, whilst others of the smaller kinds prefer the less shady trees or open country. These birds belong to Africa and the neighbouring islands, and also to various islands in the Pacific Ocean; they are likewise met with in great numbers in South America. The family is very rich in species; we shall, however, only select a few from the many, seeing that the mere description of their plumage would be wearisome, and we scarcely possess any information with regard to their mode of life in their native haunts. There can be no hesitation in placing the "JAKO," the GREY, or RED-TAILED PARROT (_Psittacus erithacus_) first upon the list, for it may be considered as the type of the race; it is true that it has neither the quickest flight nor the gayest plumage, but it combines in itself that equal excellence of all the attributes of a parrot which gives and will retain for it a pre-eminence among its congeners. THE JAKO. The GREY PARROT exhibits only two colours in its plumage. The tail is of a deep Cinnabar red, and all the other feathers are ash-grey or greyish blue, bordered with a lighter shade; near the head and neck the light borders of the feathers are somewhat wider than elsewhere. The beak is black, the eyes light brown, the bare places round the latter of a whitish colour. The male and female do not differ in hue, and but little in size, the male being the largest; its average measurement is twelve inches in length and twenty-five inches across the wings, the tail three inches and a half, the wing from shoulder to tip eight inches and a half; when folded, the wing extends some lines beyond the tail.