Parrots. 231 



by calling out during the pause before dinner, " Becky, 

 Becky, the pig's liver and a pot of beer! Quick! quick! 

 come away ! " and repeating the call till, to the con- 

 sternation of the lady of the house and the intense 

 amusement of her guests, in walked a slipshod country 

 girl, carrying a large dish of liver and a foaming pot 

 of beer, and crying out, " Lucky indeed it was that I 

 had it ready, ma'am, for Jowler, the big watch-dog, 

 has runned away with the leg of carrion" [i.e., venison]. 

 I have heard of another, who lived in a kitchen, where 

 the mistress was very suspicious of her servants, and 

 he used always to give her notice, " Mary has been 

 here," " John was here again," etc. ; and on one occa- 

 sion, when the mistress came unexpectedly into the 

 kitchen while some contraband cooking was going on, 

 the bird called out, "Cake under the cushion, mistress!" 

 and repeated his speech till the hidden cake was pro- 

 duced. It is difficult to imagine that this Parrot was 

 not acquainted with the meaning of the words he used. 



Parrots frequently form very decided and lasting 

 attachments to their owners. 



They are very long-lived birds, living sixty or 

 seventy years in confinement. The common African 

 GREY PARROT, too well known to need description, is 

 renowned for its wonderful powers of imitation. This, 

 and the AMAZON GREEN PARROT, are, perhaps, the 

 most common in this country; the RlNG-NECKED 

 INDIAN PARRAKEETS and the BLOSSOM - HEADED 



