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The performance was always rewarded with a tit-bit of

some kind, and perhaps that was the reason he was so ready to

obey when he was asked to “ turn round.”


Another trick of his was to hang by one leg from the

upper perch in his cage, ruffle all his feathers, let his wings

droop, and whine exactly like an infant in distress. So realistic

was the imitation that visitors who heard him for the first time,

but did not see the bird, have said to me, “ I did not know you

had a baby in the house,” and would scarcely believe me when

I told them that the noise they heard was the utterance of a

Parrot and not of a child. This performance Joey would

frequently indulge in when alone and probably felt himself to be

neglected, but if a real baby voiced his, or her, feelings in his

hearing, at once the bird would fling himself from his perch

and try to out-whine the little human performer.


He had his antipathies as well as his preferences had

Joey, and one of the former was my youngest son, then a child

of about seven or eight years old, who used to tease the Parrot,

and had been cautioned against doing so, for Joe had a powerful

bill, and I feared that he might make it felt if provoked too far.


He was let out of his cage every day, and at such times

Charlie was enjoined by no means to go near him, but on one

occasion he did, and the Parrot “ went for him ” with a yell of

defiance, or of exultation in anticipation of revenge. Charlie

fled, with the Parrot after him ; hearing the commotion, the cook

rushed out of the kitchen, just in time for my little boy to bury

his head in her apron, and for Joey to nip her arm, which he did

so effectually that the wound had to be sewn up. The good

woman, however, who was partial to the Parrot, took the

mischance in excellent part, with the remark, “ Never mind, sir;

better it be my arm than Master Charlie’s face, and I know he

(the Parrot) didn’t mean it.”


Although he had large and powerful wings, Joe had not

the least idea of flying, and when I thought to induce him to

use his dormant powers of flight by turning him into the garden

aviary, he was evidently so unhappy there that I had to take him

in again, and on being restored to his cage he exclaimed “ Tah,”

several times with unction, and then began to twirl round his

perch with more than his accustomed energy.


Joey was not a young bird when he came into my

possession, and had begun to pluck himself—the man I bought

him from (I hope he had not stolen him) said the Parrot was

“ moulting,” but I knew better, and thought I could cure him;



