Parrot
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Parrot. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a family of birds, remarkable for brilliant plumage and a power of imitating human speech. They live in tropical forests, eating seeds and fruit. The parrot is a poor walker but it is a strong flier. It can climb almost as well as a woodpecker, an operation in which it assists itself by clinging to vines and branches with its strong hooked bill. Of 500 species about 150 are inhabitants of tropical America. One species, the Carolina paroquet, formerly ranged from Colorado and the Great Lakes to the Gulf, but the demand for its green and gold wings, as well as its propensity for fruit, has confined it to the wilder parts of Oklahoma and Florida. The largest parrot is the Central American macaw, whose depredations are dreaded by proprietors of orchards and cornfields. The scarlet macaw is a brilliant bird about three feet in length. The green macaw and the blue and the yellow macaw are somewhat smaller. They are all poor talkers, limited to a few phrases, but are favorite cage birds on account of their plumage. The smallest parrots are hardly as large as a red-winged blackbird. The best talker is the red-tailed gray parrot of Africa. It is said to be able to repeat the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed . The second place is claimed by the yellow-headed parrot of Mexico. Formerly a rare gift bestowed by a returning sailor, parrots are now to be had of bird dealers in every considerable city. In the bird stores of New York they fetch from $5 to $15 each. Parrots constitute the most intelligent family of birds, displaying a sense of humor, and no little degree of affection, but they are changeable and quick tempered. It is claimed that the tongue of a parrot is remarkably like that of a person. The parrot nests in a hollow tree, several pairs usually occupying the same cavity. If a few parrots be killed or wounded by discharging a gun, the other birds of the flock take flight, but circle back and settle down with every evidence of sympathy and concern for their unfortunate comrades. This affectionate trait facilitates their rapid extermination at the hands of the fowler. The gray parrot has been known to live to an age of seventy years. In perching, the parrot directs two toes forward and two backward, suggesting relationship to the wise owl. Contrary to the fruit-eating habits of the family, the kea parrot of New Zealand has a liking for flesh, fresh mutton preferred. It is accused of killing sheep for its own consumption.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the popular name for any individual of a well-known group of birds from the warmer regions of the globe, remarkable for the brilliant, and in some cases gaudy, coloration of their plumage, and the facility with which many of them acquire and repeat words and phrases. B C PARROTS (A) Hawk-Billed Parrot. (B) Red and Blue Macaw. (C) Parrakeet.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's wrote in 1910 that the Carolina paroquet had been driven back to "the wilder parts of Oklahoma and Florida"; it was already nearly gone. The last known captive, a bird called Incas, died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918, and the species was formally declared extinct in 1939. Aiton's guess that the parrot's paired-forward, paired-back toes suggest kinship with owls has been overturned by DNA work, which places parrots closest to the songbirds, and the family it counted at 500 species is now reckoned at roughly 400 "the most threatened order of birds, with something near a third at risk. The old faith in the grey parrot as the best talker has been vindicated in an unexpected way by Alex, the African grey studied by Irene Pepperberg from 1977 until his death in 2007, who was credited with labelling objects, colours and numbers; meanwhile the casual bird-store trade the entry describes has been curtailed, the United States banning most wild-caught imports in 1992.
Written for this edition, 2026.