. Bombay ducks; an account of some of the every-day birds and beasts found in a naturalist's Eldorado . arrotmust have the bump of destructiveness very largelydeveloped. The bird is never so happy as when it isdestroying the crop sown by some poor raiyat; and, sinceparrots are restrained by neither law nor a moral sense,there is no hindrance to their self-indulgence, except thesmall boys who are told off to watch the crops; butthese urchins only serve to add zest to parrot existence. Pollys larcenies would lose half their charm hadnot the thief the pleasure of dodging the ill-aimedstones of th
. Bombay ducks; an account of some of the every-day birds and beasts found in a naturalist's Eldorado . arrotmust have the bump of destructiveness very largelydeveloped. The bird is never so happy as when it isdestroying the crop sown by some poor raiyat; and, sinceparrots are restrained by neither law nor a moral sense,there is no hindrance to their self-indulgence, except thesmall boys who are told off to watch the crops; butthese urchins only serve to add zest to parrot existence. Pollys larcenies would lose half their charm hadnot the thief the pleasure of dodging the ill-aimedstones of the small watchmen. The methods of greenparrots are copied from those of Indian jungle folk, orperhaps the converse is the case. Of this each manmust judge for himself. It is for me but to state thesober fact that if an unsophisticated villager desires thewherewithal to build him a house, and if the aforesaidvillager lives in the neighbourhood of a reservedforest, he forthwith betakes himself into the said forestand proceeds to cut down the twelve most promisingsaplings upon which he can lay his THE ROSE-RINGED PARAKEEl GREEN PARROTS 19 In the same way, when a flock of green parrotsinvades a wheat field, each bird does not confine itsdepredations to one blade of corn until it is would be very poor sport. Every man, woman,and child parrot selects a grain-laden stalk and, havingenjoyed one small beakful, bites off the head, and then,with a wicked chuckle, proceeds to mete out similartreatment to another head of corn. Needless to say,the villager is no more fond of the parrot than the forestofficer is of the villager. The diet of green parrots is by no means confined towheat. No grain crop comes amiss to the bird, and, ifthere be no corn in Egypt, they make merry among thefruit trees. Green parrots are, however, strict vege-tarians. I would earnestly commend this fact to thosegood people who attribute all sin in this world to theeating of meat. Further, green par
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirdsin, bookyear1906
