244



Rosie Alderson,



How, then, should we start with a parrot that comes straight

from a dealer’s and may be savage or timid, or possibly both

combined ?


First, let us consider the point from the parrot’s side. Even

with merciful treatment it has suffered greatly. It has been deprived

of its freedom to come and go, to fly or settle at will, and when one

thinks of the joy it must be to a bird to fly where it lists, in the pure

air and sunshine, to light on a swinging bough, and to exchange

this for a small barred cage—possibly with other captives—and a

hard straight perch, it is no wonder if many birds physically suffer

from strain and heart-break, and get out of health from inaction

after a life of liberty. Then, again, there is the terrible shock to

the bird’s system in being caught , the unknown dread of what it all

means, the terrified helplessness. In highly-strung birds one would

almost wonder if they were ever quite the same again, for birds have

“ hearts ” like human beings. I once had a little whydah that used

to faint in my hand if it was ever necessary to catch it.


Another strain on a parrot is the change of climate, and this

change is made worse by the bird not being able to move about in

its cage sufficiently to keep its circulation properly going. Added

to this is the change of food, the lack of fresh food, and the infinite

variety of it, in the bird’s free life, the healthy appetite gained from

having to search for that food : all this exchanged for an artificial

diet, which being always before the bird must take away much of its

desire for it.


There is just one point more: if you look at a parrot’s feet

you may sometimes notice they are more or less imperfect. A nail

may be gone, perhaps a toe, in some very bad cases several. What

does it mean ? Simply a record of a man’s cruelty when he trapped

the bird, for black people know no pity with live creatures. Can we

wonder at any parrot’s hatred or terror of the whole human race ?

Many a parrot put down as bad tempered is simply nerve-racked

when any human being makes advances towards it. It is a repeti¬

tion of the case of the poor little terror-stricken dauphin in his cry

to Marie Antoinette, “ Mamma, is it yesterday over again ? ”


How, then, shall we treat our parrot to make it forget tho

past ? It goes without saying that the cage must be all ready before-



