The Grey Parrot. 299 



a favourite, that he should be paid the reward the bird 

 had called out. This was refused ; but it was agreed 

 that, as the Parrot had offered a reward, the man should 

 again refer to its determination for the sum he was to 

 receive. " Give the knave a groat," screamed the bird 

 the instant the reference was made. 



The memory of Parrots is very astonishing, and they 

 can not only imitate discoiirse, but can sing verses of 

 songs, and mimic gestures and actions. Scaligor saw 

 one that performed the dance of the Savoyards at the 

 same time that it repeated their song. The song was 

 well imitated, but when the bird tried to caper, it was 

 with the worst grace imaginable, as he turned in his toes, 

 and kept tumbling back in a most clumsy manner. 



Willoughby tells us of a Parrot, which, when a person 

 said to it, " Laugh, Poll, laugh," laughed accordingly, and 

 the instant after screamed out, " What a fool to make 

 me laugh ! " Another, which had grown old with its 

 master, shared with him the infirmities of age. Being 

 accustomed to hear scarcely anything but the words " 1 

 am sick ; " when a person asked it, " How do you do, 

 Poll ?" " I am sick," it replied in a doleful tone, stretch- 

 ing itself out, " I am sick." 



Parrots are very numerous in the East and West 

 Indies, where they assemble in companies, like rooks, 

 and build in the hollows of trees. The female lays two 

 or three eggs, marked with little specks, like those of 

 the partridge. They never breed in our climate, though 

 they live here to a great age. They feed entirely upon 

 vegetables, but, when tame, will take from the mouth of 

 their master or mistress any kind of chewed meat, and 

 chiefly eggs, of which they seem particularly fond. They 

 bite or pinch very hard, and some of them possess so 

 much strength in their beak, that they could easily 

 break a man's finger. The Parrot is sensible of attach- 

 ment, as well as of revenge ; and if in their mimic atti- 

 tudes they show great pleasure at the sight of their 

 feeders, they also fly up with anger to the face of those 

 who once have affronted or injured them. 



