394 THE FESTIVE GREEN PARROT. 



off to the spot ; and after looking at the birds for a little while, went to her cage, brought a 

 beakf ul of her sopped bread, and put it into the nest. 



At last the young birds were hatched, much to Polly's delight; but she became so 

 energetic in her demonstrations of attachment that she pushed herself fairly through the wire 

 mashes, and terrified the parents so much that they flew away. Polly, seeing them deserted, 

 took on herself the task of foster-mother, and was so attentive to her little charge that she 

 refused to go back to her cage, but remained with the little birds by night as well as by day, 

 feeding them carefully, and forcing them to open their beaks if they refused her attentions. 

 When they were able to hop about they were very fond of getting on her back, where four of 

 them would gravely sit, while the fifth, which was the youngest, or at all events the smallest, 

 always preferred to perch on Polly's head. 



With all these little ones on her back, Polly would very deliberately walk up and down the 

 lawn, as if to give them exercise ; and would sometimes vary her performance by rising into 

 the air, thus setting the ten little wings in violent motion, and giving the birds a hard task to 

 remain on her back. By degrees they became less fearful, and when she rose from the ground, 

 they would leave her back and fly down. They were but ungrateful little creatures after 

 all ; for when they were fully fledged they flew away, and never came back again to their 

 foster-mother. 



Poor Polly was for some time in great trouble about the desertion of her foster-children, 

 but soon consoled herself by taking care of another little brood. These belonged to a pair of 

 hedge-sparrows, whose home had been broken up by the descent of some large bird, which was 

 supposed to have been a hawk by the effects produced. Polly found the little birds in dire 

 distress ; and contrived in some ingenious manner to get them, one by one, on her back, and 

 to fly with them to her cage. Here she established the little family ; never entering the cage 

 except for the purpose of attending to her young charge. 



The oddest part of the matter was, that one of the parents survived, and Polly was seen to 

 talk to her in the most absurd manner ; mixing up her acquired vocabulary with that universal 

 bird -language that seems to be common to all the feathered tribes, and plentifully interlarding 

 her discourse with sundry profane expressions. At last the instinctive language conquered the 

 human, and the two birds seemed to understand each other perfectly well. At that time Polly 

 was supposed to be about eight or nine years old. 



There is a rather general belief that only the male Parrot can talk, but this is merely a 

 popular error. The female Parrot has often been known to be an excellent talker, and at the 

 same time has proved her sex by the deposition of a solitary egg. As might be supposed, such 

 eggs produce no young; but there are accredited instances where the Gray Parrot has bred in 

 Europe. In Buffon's well-known work may be seen a notice of a pair of Parrots that bred 

 regularly for five or six years, and brought up their young successfully. The place chosen 

 for their incubation was a tub, partially filled with sawdust, and was probably selected because 

 it bore some resemblance to the hollow trunk of a tree, which is the usual nesting-place of the 

 Parrots. 



The general color of this bird is a very pure ashen-gray, except the tail, which is deep 

 scarlet. 



Two species of Green Parrot are tolerably common, the one being the FESTIVE GREEN 

 PARROT, and the other the Amazon Green Parrot. 



The former bird is a much larger and altogether finer species than the latter, often measur- 

 ing sixteen inches in length. It is found in various parts of South America, such as Guiana, 

 Cayenne, and the Brazils, and is very plentiful along the banks of the Amazon. It is a forest- 

 loving bird, frequenting the depths of the vast wooded tracts which cover that country with 

 their wonderful luxuriance, and being seldom seen beyond their outskirts. Being of an 

 affectionate nature and easily tamed, it is in great favor as a cage-bird, and can readily be 

 taught to pronounce words or even sentences. 



The general color of this Parrot is bright green. On the top of the head and behind the 

 eyes the feathers are rather pale cobalt-blue, and a deeper tint of blue is also seen on the outer 



