20 BOMBAY DUCKS 



watched a flock of them, can for a moment doubt. 

 Other causes contribute to this enjoyment of life. One 

 of these is the pleasure — pure and unalloyed pleasure — 

 which these birds derive from annoying other species. 

 A green parrot will gladly take the trouble to deviate 

 from its swift arrow-like course merely to hustle some 

 inoffensive little bird off its perch. 



Then again, the tongue of a parrot differs from that 

 of other birds. It is constructed so as to give the bird 

 a strong sense of taste. This is a sense which must be 

 wanting in many birds, else how could they eat worms ? 

 Watch a pigeon feeding. This lovable bird will gobble 

 up a couple of hundred grains of Indian corn in half as 

 many seconds, which reminds me of the fact that our 

 Teutonic cousins seem to have queer ideas regarding 

 what constitutes a compliment. 



I once heard a German tell an English girl, who was 

 making a very poor dinner, that she had a stomach like 

 a pigeon. It is possible that he meant that her appetite 

 resembled that of a dove. Whatever he meant, he was 

 very pleased with himself, until he saw the expression 

 of anger and disgust on the girl's face. Then he grew 

 sad. Pigeons are very graceful birds, but their manner 

 of eating does not commend itself to our British ideas. 



This, however, is a digression. What I want to 

 emphasize is, that a bird which stows away its food at 

 such a rate cannot possibly taste what it is eating. The 

 same applies, in a lesser degree, to a dog. The parrot, 

 however, is an epicure. 



Lastly, Polly has an ear for music. Not that its voice 

 is musical. The call of a parrot is a terrible one, and 



