[Three Hundred Animals Contents]
THIS is the first of the species of that name, and is supposed to have been the only one known to the ancients, since the time of Alexander the Great down to the age of Nero; but this opinion cannot be easily maintained, as the communication with the East Indies, of which they are natives, was not much intercepted in that lapse of years. The bird is about fifteen inches long, his bill is thick and all over red; the head and the body green; but the neck, breast, and the whole of the under side more faint or pale; the other parts deeper coloured. He has a red circle oy ring which encompasses the back of the neck, and is, behind, about the breadth of one’s little finger, but grows narrower by degrees towards the sides and ends under the lower chap of the bill. The belly is of so faint a green that it seems almost yellow. The tail is also of a yellowish green, the legs and feet are ash-coloured.
