d evolved themselves
_pari passu_ for one another's benefit. Without the fruits there could
be no fruit-eaters; and without the fruit-eaters to disperse their
seeds, there could just to the same extent be no fruits to speak of.

Most of the parrots very much resemble the monkeys and other tropical
fruit-feeders in their habits and manners. They are gregarious,
mischievous, noisy, and irresponsible. They have no moral sense, and
are fond of practical jokes and other schoolboy horseplay. They move
about in flocks, screeching aloud as they go, and alight together on
some tree well covered with berries. No doubt, they herd together for
the sake of protection and screech both to keep the flock in a body and
to strike alarm and consternation into the breasts of their enemies.
When danger threatens, the first bird that perceives it sounds a note
of warning; and in a moment the whole troop is on the wing at once,
vociferous and eager, roaring forth a song in their own tongue which
may be roughly interpreted as stating in English that they don't want
to fight, but by Jingo, if they do, they'll tear their enemy to shreds
and drink his blood up too.

The common grey parrot, the best known in confinement of all his kind,
and unrivalled as an orator for his graces of speech, is a native of
West Africa; so that he shares with other West Africans that perfect
command of language which has always been a marked characteristic of
the negro race. He feeds in a general way upon palm-nuts, bananas,
mangoes, and guavas, but he is by no means averse, if opportunity
offers, to the Indian corn of the industrious native. His wife
accompanies him in his solitary rambles, for they are not gregarious.
In her native haunts, indeed, Polly is an unsociable bird. It is only
in confinement that her finer qualities come out, and that she develops
into a speech-maker of distinguished attainments.

A very peculiar and exceptional offshoot of the parrot group is the
brush-tongued lory, several species of which are common in Australia,
India, and the Molucca Islands. These pretty and interesting creatures
are in point of fact parrots which have practically made themselves
into humming-birds by long continuance in the poetical habit of
visiting flowers for food. Like Mr. Oscar Wilde in his aesthetic days,
they breakfast off a lily. Flitting about from tree to tree with great
rapidity, they thrust their long extensible tongues, pencilled with
honey-gatherin