CHAPTER XIII 



VERT — VERT ; OR PARROT GOSSIP 



I AM not an admirer of pet parrots. To me, and I 

 have made the discovery that to many others too, 

 it is a depressing experience, on a first visit to nice 

 people, to find that a parrot is a member of the 

 family. As a rule he is the most important member. 

 When I am compelled to stand in the admiring 

 circle, to look on and to listen while he exhibits his 

 weary accomplishments, it is but lip service that I 

 render : my eyes are turned inward, and a vision of 

 a green forest comes before them resounding with the 

 wild, glad, mad cries of flocks of wild parrots. This 

 is done purposely, and the sound which I mentally 

 hear and the sight of their vari-coloured plumage 

 in the dazzUng sunlight are a corrective, and keep 

 me from hating the bird before me because of the 

 imbecihty of its owners. In his proper place, which 

 is not in a tin cage in a room of a house, he is to be 

 admired above most birds ; and I wish I could be 

 where he is living his wild life ; that I could have 

 again a swarm of parrots, angry at my presence, 



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