252 THE SPEAKING PARROTS. 



trumpeting. How great was my astonisliment and delight when 

 one day it greeted me with the words, ' Come, dear little Misse, 

 €ome r which it at first pronounced hesitatingly, but soon loudly 

 and distinctly. I had always saluted it thus in the morning, but 

 without the intention of teaching it to speak. Not long after- 

 wards it began to say also, ' Oh, you dear little Misse, you little 

 darling, come, give me a kiss.' It is most charming to see it 

 and to hear it, when it plays with my finger, kissing it, then sing- 

 ing, and trying to eat. It flies away, returns, and repeats these 

 gambols countless times, during which it continually chatters 

 the above words." 



Mr. William Bauer, of Tubingen, describes another speaking 

 Grass Parrakeet : *'If anyone calls * Hansele, come,' it at once 

 flies to him, sits on his shoulder or on his finger, and begins to 

 chatter. It says most clearly, ' Hansele, where are you ? 

 where are you?' and then replies to itself, ' Here I am ;' then it 

 asks further, 'Are you good ?' and says very prettily, ' He is a 

 dear little sweetie,' or ' Sweet Hansele! pretty boy !' If a tune 

 is sung to it, it sings it also ; it can also laugh and cough, and 

 is especially fond of getting 'kisses.' It puts its beak to 

 one's lips, and kisses with a loud noise. At the same time it 

 watches the eyes constantly, to see if they wear a friendly 

 expression. If it wishes to be kissed, it says, * Come,' ' a kiss.' 

 Of course, it is accustomed to be talked to a great deal, to be 

 laughed at, and played with ; if not, it plays alone with a ball of 

 cotton or a piece of roll. If not let out of the cage very soon in 

 the morning, it cries and complains in truly lamentable tones. 

 It talks also at night when the gas is lighted, and, if tired, it 

 sings and rocks itself, whistling more and more softly, to sleep. 

 It appears to have ceased from its natural cry entirely." It may 

 be added that this parrakeet was sent by Mr. Bauer to the bird 

 show at Berlin, where it took a silver medal, and was afterwards 

 sold for £7 10s. 



Another interesting description is furnished by Mr. K. von 

 Scheidt, of Coblentz. The Grass Parrakeet of which he writes 

 was in the workroom of Mr. Schmitz, tailor, together with a 

 canary bird, and it surprised the workers, who had taken much 

 notice of it, by saying softly one day, " Go away, James ! you 

 blockhead, you rascal !" The men scarcely believed their ears — 

 one asserted and another denied that the bird had spoken — but 

 soon they heard it talking quite loudly and distinctly. After- 

 wards it learnt to smack with the tongue, to pipe long-drawn 



