342 THE FEATHERED TRUiES. 



crowing and chuckling, has been the most ludicrous thing possible. She sings just like 

 a child, and I have more than once thought it was a human being ; and it is most 

 ludicrous to hoar her make what one should call a false note, and then say, ' Oh la,' and 

 burst out laughing at herself, beginning again quite in another key. She is very fond of 

 singing, ' Bu}' a broom,' which she says quite plainlj' ; but in the same S2:)irit as in calling 

 the cat, if we say, with a view to make her repeat it, ' Buy a broom,' she always says, 

 ' Buy a hriisli' and then laughs as a child might do when mischievous. She often 

 performs a kind of exercise which I do not know how to describe, except by saying, that 

 it is like the lance exercise. She puts her claw behind her, first on one side and then on 

 the other, then in front, and round over her head, and whilst doing so keeps saying, 

 ' Come on, come on ;' and when finished, saj's, ' Bravo, beautiful ! ' and draws herself up. 

 Before I was as well acquainted with her as I am now, she would stare in my face, and 

 then say, ' How d'ye do, ma'am ? ' This she invariably does to strangers. One day I 

 went into the room where she was, and said, to try her, ' Poll, where is Payne gone ? ' 

 and to my astonishment, and almost dismay, she said, 'Down stairs.' I cannot at this 

 moment recollect anj'thing more that I can -N-ouch for myself, and I do not choose to trust 

 to what I atn told ; but from what I have myself seen and heard, she has almost made 

 me a believer in transmigration. 



"In addition to this account, I may mcnlion, that the Rev. Dr. Hooker, of llottingdean, 

 near Brighton, has a parrot wJiich evinces almost equal sagacity. If a piece of tape is 

 given it, it weaves it into a sort of basket, and will tie a knot with its beak and foot." 



The imitati\'e propensity' of the parrot, amusing as it in general may be, is, however, 

 sometimes to be guarded against, from its being productive of untoward accidents, as 

 the following instance will show. A parrot, which was kejit upon a quay in a seaport 

 town, had learned the term, with its appropriate enunciation, used bj- carters in backing 

 ■ — that is, making the horse, by a retrograde motion, place the cart or T\'aggon in the 

 most convenient station for loadiua- or unloading'. This term the bird one day made use 

 of when a cart and horse had imprudently been left unattended for a short time, and the 

 horse, obeying the mandate of the bird, continued to keep mo\ing backwards till both 

 were precipitated over the quay, and the unfortunate animal was drowned. 



The gray parrot is a native of A\'estcrn Africa, i'rom whence it appears to have been 

 imported at a very early period ; but common and well kno\\'n as it is in a state of 

 captivity, with its peculiar habits and economy in a state of nature w'o are still but little and 

 imperfectly acquainted. Like most of its kind, it is said to breed in the hollows of decayed 

 trees ; and the instinctive propensity for such situations does not appear to desert it even 

 in a state of capti\ity, for Buflbn mentions a pair in France, that, for five or six years 

 successively, produced and brought up their young, and that- the place they selected ibr 

 this purpose was a cask partly filled with sawdust. Its eggs are stated to be generally 

 four in number, their colour white, and in size equal to those of a pigeon. In its native 

 state, the food of tliis parrot consists of the kernels of various fruits, and the seeds of other 

 vegetables ; but when domesticated or kept caged, its principal diet is generally milk and 

 bread, varied with nuts, almonds, &c., and even pieces of dressed meat. AA'hen feeding, 

 it often holds the food clasped in the foot, and before swallowing, masticates or reduces 

 it to small pieces by its powerful bill and i)alatial cutters. This member, so imlike that 

 of other frugivorous birds, is admirably calculated for the j^rincipal offices it has to 

 perform, in breaking the shells of the hardest fruit and seeds, and as a strong and 

 powerful organ of prehension and support ; fin- few of luir readers but must have observed 

 tluit the bill is always first used, and chiefly depended upon, when a pai rot is caged, in 

 climbing or moving from one position to another. The longevity of the feathered race, 

 •we believe, in general far exceeds what is commonly supposed, at least, if we maj- judge 

 from the age attained by various birds, even when subjected to captivity and conliiiement. 



