I 



1 86 THE MINDS AND MANNERS 



have accepted man at his face value and endeavored to estab- 

 lish with him a modus vivendi. The mallard and the graylag 

 goose are the ancestors of our domestic ducks and geese. The 

 jungle fowls have given us the domestic chickens. The wild 

 turkey, the pheasants, the guinea fowl, the ostrich, the emu and 

 the peacock we possess in domestication unchanged. 



Caged Wild Birds Quickly Appreciate Sanctuary. Mr. 

 Crandall reports that in the Zoological Park there have been 

 many instances of the voluntary return to their cages of wild 

 birds that have escaped from them. The following instances 

 are cited, out of many that are remembered: 



A wild hermit thrush, only two weeks in captivity, escaped 

 from an outdoor cage. But he refused to leave the vicinity 

 of his new home, and permanent food supply. He lingered 

 around for two or three days, and finally a wise keeper opened 

 the cage door when he was near it, and at once he went in. 



A magpie escaped from an outside cage, and for a week he 

 lingered around it unwilling to leave its vicinity. At last the 

 other birds of the cage were removed, the door was left open, 

 and the magpie at once went back home. 



Bird Memory and Talk. Birds have few ways and 

 means by which to reveal their powers of memory. The best 

 exhibits are made by the talking parrots and cockatoos. The 

 feats of some of these birds, both in memory and expression, are 

 really wonderful. The startling aptness with which some parrots 

 apply the language they possess often is quite uncanny. Con- 

 cerning "sound mimicry" and the efforts of memory on which 

 I they are based, Mr. Lee S. Crandall, Curator of Birds, has con- 

 tributed the following statement of his observations: 



"Many birds, including practically all members of the 

 parrot tribe, many of the crows and jays, as well as mynas and 

 starlings, learn to repeat sounds, words and sentences. Ability 

 varies with both species and individuals. Certain species show 

 greater aptitude as a whole than other species, while there is a 

 great difference between individuals of the same species. 



