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Parrots: It is not an easy task to fix the exact date when parrots first became known in Europe, but I should say that the middle of the fifteenth century is the most probable time for we read that it was in the year 1455 that "a Senegal Parrot was first heard of in Europe". I don't think this necessarily means Pceocephalus senegalus.
It more probably merely refers to a parrot of some kind imported from that part of Africa. It seems to have been nearly fifty years later (in 1504) that the first parrots reached England and were "shown as a great curiosity".
There are two historical Grey Parrots that deserve mention here, belonging respectively to King Henry VIII and to the famous and enchanting Duchess of Lennox and Richmond who was known as "La belle Stuart" and was a mistress of King Charles II.
While we do not know much of the Tudor parrot beyond the fact that it was a Grey and certainly did belong to Henry VIII, we know a good deal about the Stuart one and indeed its stuffed body - believed to be the oldest stuffed bird in the world - can be seen in the Norman Undercroft Museum at Westminster Abbey to this day.
Parrots, Cockatoos and Macaws
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