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course) b} r the visitor, I knew it was only a question of seconds

until the fatal question, “ Can it talk ? ” would be asked. It was

of no earthly use for me to hint that I had not time to teach the

bird ; that it was a young one ; or, that I had not possessed it

very long. Such paltry excuses only tended to heighten my crime

of keeping a non-talking Parrot. Now, all that is over : I can

show my other birds to friends, without feeling that they will

have a chance of asking that question which once seemed to be

continually clinging to me like a nightmare. Gentle reader, to

ask the owner of a non-talking Parrot whether it talks, is as bad

as asking a man if he has paid for his last new hat ! Don’t do

it. But, “ What has become of the Parrot ? Is it dead?” I hear

someone ask. No ; the London Zoo has purchased the bird, and

the Secretary writes to say that it is the first one of its kind they

ever had. Its home is in the Celebes.


Our esteemed member, the Hon. and Rev. Canon Dutton,

is to be thanked (or blamed ?) for these notes. Tho other day,

after I had written to say that I had not time to write an article

for the Avicultural Magazine at present, he replied, “ I hope you

will not be obdurate, but will write a short account of the bird.”

So I gave in. As I have not the bird before me, I must trust to

my memory in describing it. The general colour is green, with

a bluish tinge about the neck. The inner feathers of the wings

are yellow, this colour being often visible when the wings are

naturally folded upon the back. The most important part of the

bird’s plumage, however, is its tail, the peculiarity of which

gives the bird its name. The two middle tail feathers are

elongated, something like those of the Racket-tailed Drongo.

That is to say, the webs of the two feathers, at a distance of three

or four inches from their base are wanting, only the stalk of

the feather being present for two or three inches. At the extreme

end of the “stalk” is a flattened circular knob or “racket,”

about the size of a split pea. When I first purchased the bird

from the establishment of a well-known Calcutta dealer, no

evidence of the “ Rackets ” was visible ; but our learned

member, Mr. F. Finn, of the Indian Museum, who was with me

at the time, at on-ce identified it. Another striking point about

the Racket-tailed Parrot is the colour of its beak, which is slaty-

blue. The legs and feet are of a leaden colour. The bird,

before I purchased it, had been fed upon “ gram ” (a kind of pea)

previously soaked in water. So on tiring of the bird, and being

overcrowded, I sent it on deposit to the Calcutta Zoological

Gardens, where it was also fed upon the same kind of soaked



