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 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 afterwards 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 repeat many sentences from the boatmen and passengers. One day, sporting on its perch, it unluckily fell into the water. The bird had no sooner discovered its situation, than it called out aloud, “A boat! twenty pounds for a boat!” A waterman, happening to be near the place where the Parrot was floating, immediately took it up, and restored it to the king; demanding, as the bird was a favourite, that he should be paid the reward the bird had called out. This was refused; but it was agreed that, as the Parrot had offered a reward, the man should again refer to its determination for the sum he was to receive. “Give the knave a groat,” screamed the bird the instant the reference was made. The memory of Parrots is very astonishing, and they can not only imitate discourse, but can sing verses of songs, and mimic gestures and actions. Scaliger saw one that performed the dance of the Savoyards at the same time that it repeated their song. The song was well imitated, but when the bird tried to caper, it was with the worst grace imaginable, as he turned in his toes, and kept tumbling back in a most clumsy manner. Willoughby tells us of a Parrot, which, when a person said to it, “Laugh, Poll, laugh,” laughed accordingly, and the instant after screamed out, “What a fool to make me laugh!” Another, which had grown old with its master, shared with him the infirmities of age. Being accustomed to hear scarcely anything but the words “I am sick;” when a person asked it, “How do you do, Poll?” “I am sick,” it replied in a doleful tone, stretching itself out, “I am sick.”