xliv INTRODUCTION. 



rationality. She was, at the time of her decease, supposed to 

 be more than thirty years of age. The colonel was repeat- 

 edly offered five hundred guineas a year for the bird, by 

 persons who wished to make a public exhibition of her ; but 

 out of tenderness to his favorite he constantly refused the 

 offer. 



The story related by Goldsmith of a parrot belonging to 

 King Henry the Seventh, is very amusing, and possibly true. It 

 was kept m a room in the Palace of Westminster, overlooking 

 the Thames, and had naturally enough learned a store of boat- 

 men's phrases ; one day, sportmg somewhat incautiously. Poll 

 fell mto the river, but had rationality enough, it appears, to 

 make a profitable use of the words she had learned, and ac- 

 cordingly vociferated, " A boat ! twenty pounds for a boat!" 

 This welcome sound reaching the ears of a waterman, soon 

 brought assistance to the Parrot, who delivered it to the 

 king, with a request to be paid the round sum so readily prom- 

 ised by the bird ; but his Majesty, dissatisfied with the exor- 

 bitant demand, 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 

 Understandmg," though approaching closely to rationality, and 

 apparently improbable, may not be a greater effort than could 

 have been accomplished 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 mtroduced mto the room, where sat the prince 

 in company with several Dutchmen. On viewing them, the 

 Parrot exclaimed, m Portuguese, " What a company 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 



