INARTICULATE SOUNDS IN THE PARROT 365 



called forth a melody in response but one having no resemblance 

 to the original stimulus. There was never any evidence of the 

 imitation of two or more successive tones. 



MELODY AND INTENSITY 



At times I had great difficulty in obtaining responses to 

 single notes although the bird would sing quite readily when 

 a melody was played. In accompanying a melody his voice 

 rises and falls with many marked changes in pitch but does 

 not follow the melody closely. He is affected to a marked 

 extent by the intensity and rapidity of the music. A slow 

 tempo will rarely induce a reaction; rapid playing, on the 

 contrary, will arouse him to a condition of high excitement in 

 which his movements become rapid, his crest is erected and his 

 tail spread. Changes in intensity have a like effect. 



THE IMPULSE TO IMITATE SOUNDS 



There is no experimental evidence bearing upon the motive 

 which impels the parrots to imitate sounds foreign to their 

 species. The bird described in this note was in a constant 

 stage of rage during the experiments, attacking me frequently 

 and once striking at my face with such violence as to throw 

 himself from the chair. A young bird of the same species which 

 I now have in my possession persists in giving almost his entire 

 repertoire of instinctive notes whenever he hears any musical 

 sounds, and this in spite of severe and repeated punishment. 

 These facts suggest that reward is not an important factor in 

 the parrot's reproduction of sounds. The whole attitude of the bird 

 in reacting suggests the action of an instinct for competition. 

 His movements during reaction frequently suggest the courting 

 activities of other birds and it seems not improbable that the 

 principal motive for the parrot's reproduction of sounds is to be 

 sought in a perverted form of sex rivalry. However, much 

 more extensive experiments with observations upon the birds 

 under natural conditions will be necessary to settle this question. 



SUMMARY 



The data presented indicate that the parrot is able to dis- 

 tinguish sounds of widely different pitch and timbre and to 

 reproduce them. 



