INTRODUCTION. 21 



agreed, at any rate, to give him what the bird should now award; 

 in answer to which reference, Poll shrewdly cried, '• Give the knave 

 a groat.''' 



The story given by Locke, in his '• Essay on the Human Under- 

 standing," though approaching closely to rationality, and apparently 

 improbable, may not be a greater effort than could have been accom- 

 plished by Colonel O'Kelly's bird. This Parrot had attracted the 

 attention of Prince Maurice, then governor of Brazil, who had a 

 curiosity to witness its powers. The bird was introduced into tlie 

 room, where sat the prince in company with several Dutchmen. On 

 viewing them, the Parrot exclaimed, in Portuguese, " What a com- 

 pany of white men are here ! " Pointing to the prince, they asked, 

 " Who is that man.? " to which the Parrot replies, •• Some general 

 or other." The prince now asked, '•' From what place do you come ? " 

 The answer was, '' From Marignan." *- To whom do you belong.?" 

 it answered, "To a Portuguese." "What do you do there.?" to 

 which the Parrot replied, " I look after chickens ! " The prince, 

 now laughing, exclaimed, " You look after chickens ! " To which 

 Poll pertinently answered, " Yes, I; — and I know well enough 

 how to do it;" clucking at the same instant in the manner of a 

 calling brood-hen. 



The docility of birds in catching and expressing sounds depends, 

 of course, upon the perfection of their voice and hearing; assisted 

 also by no inconsiderable power of memory. The imitative actions 

 and passiveness of some small birds, such as Goldfinches, Linnets, 

 and Canaries, are, however, quite as curious as their expression of 

 sounds. A Sieur Roman exhibited in England some of these birds, 

 one of which simulated death, and was held up by the tail or claw 

 without showing any active signs of life. A second balanced itself 

 on the head, with its claws in the air. A third imitated a milkmaid 

 going to market, Avith pails on its shoulders. A fourth mimicked a 

 Venetian girl looking out at a window. A fifth acted the soldier, and 

 mounted guard as a centinel. The sixth was a cannonier, with a 

 cap on its head, a firelock on its shoulder, and with a match in its 

 claw discharged a small cannon. The same bird also acted as if 

 wounded, was wheeled in a little barrow, as it were, to the hospital; 

 after which it fl^ew away before the company. The seventh turned 

 a kind of windmill ; and the last bird stood amidst a discharge of 

 small fireworks, without showing any sign of fear. 



A similar exhibition, in which twenty-four Canary birds were the 

 actors, was also shown in London in 1820, by a Frenchman named 



