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by the original imitation of the Thrush and his more 

 recent one of the Siskin mule. 



That all the mimetic members of the Parrot 

 tribe take a decided, and often a keen, interest in 

 learning to imitate other animals I am quite certain : 

 unless they did so they would never undertake the 

 incessant practice necessary for the very gradual 

 evolution of a melody, perfect in time and tune, from 

 the primary chaos of a few crude and discordant 

 notes. For instance, little Billy would every day — 

 generally in the afternoon — dispose himself comfort- 

 ably in a corner of his cage on one of the lowest 

 perches, with his feathers ruffled up and his head 

 tucked half under his wing till he looked almost like 

 a green ball ; then for perhaps a quarter of an hour 

 he would keep on repeating in almost a whisper some 

 phrase or other that he was learning. Surely this 

 betokened a truly student-like spirit, and one that I 

 am afraid is not usually found among the youth of 

 our schools. In one respect however Parrots are very 

 like mankind— that is to say in intellectual grading, 

 for while one bird will comparatively quickly learn 

 two or three airs quite accurately and whistle them 

 one after another without any mistake, there are 

 many that only wnth the greatest trouble get so far as 

 to render one tune, and that but very imperfectly. 



To return to my little bird : — More remarkable 

 even than his unexpected vocal powers was his 

 capacity for play. One hardly associates a Parrakeet 

 with an\^ idea of a cat, but nevertheless in many of 

 his playful tricks Billy almost out-hoydened the most 

 hoydenish of kittens. After walking head downwards 

 about the roof of his cage he would suddenly drop, 

 turn a somersault, and alight on a perch. Then 

 perhaps for five minutes he would run sideways at a 

 tremendous rate backwards and forwards from end to 

 end of this perch, finally performing an evolution that 



