ENGLISH TALKIN^r ^IEDS. 311 



the mistress was niggardly and kept the larder locked, the servants, 

 unknown to the mistress, had taught it to call out, " Look to the 

 cupboard ; missus," and how one day the mistress came unexpectedly 

 into the kitchen, and hearing the raven cry out, "Look into the 

 cupboard, missus," that she opened a closet door and there found a 

 great long-legged policeman, with half a loaf of bread in one hand, 

 half a ham and a large knife in the other ; and how, when ordered to 

 come out, he was unable to speak on account of his mouth being so 

 full of bread and ham. And that was where the servant girl had 

 hidden her sweetheart when she heard her mistress coming into the 

 kitchen, nor would the girl ever have been found out had she not 

 taught the raven to say, "Look to the cupboard, missus." But 

 these are only one or two out of the many scores of wonderful stories 

 told of the things said and done by our English talking birds. 



We have but five native birds that can be taught to talk, or 

 rather to imitate the tone of the human voice, just near enough to 

 tell what sounds they do utter, though it requires some little stretch- 

 ing of the fancy even to do this at times, and these are the raven, 

 magpie, jackdaw, jay, and starling. What he did to these birds, or 

 whether he did anything or nothing, beyond taking the twopence he 

 charged for the (supposed) operation we never knew, nor ever shall 

 know now ; but in our boyish days an old man named Shaddy used 

 to pretend to cut the tongues of talking birds, and we invariably 

 took the young ones to him to be operated upon. He would never 

 let us see what he did, for as he used to say, "That's my secret, and 

 you would be as wise as I am were I to let you know it." In giving 

 as back our birds after having got the money, he would sometimes 

 say, "That jackdaw, after a little practice, will be able to preach in 

 any church in England," or " That magpie will defend a prisoner as 

 well as any counsellor that ever wore a wig." After cutting one of 

 our raven's tongues, or pretending to do so, he gave us back the bird, 

 saying, "Take care of that bird, there's a look of Shakspeare about 

 him, and there's no knowing in time what he may do." I believe 

 now that Shaddy was a regular old humbug, for the birds whose 

 tongues he pretended to slit, never talked a bit better than the birds 

 reared by other boys who kept their money and never went near 

 him. 



The MAGPIE takes the first place amongst English talking birds, and 

 he will make himself heard, we can tell you, for his voice is so sharp 

 and shrill that it almost seems to go through you. But then he is 

 such a thief, and would steal and hide his old father if he didn't keep 

 a sharp look-out. As for eating, we hardly know what he won't 

 eat, excepting the coal-scuttle, and we believe he would have a try 

 at that were it not too big ; he eats bread and cheese like fun-o, and 

 we have seen him try at a pot of porter, but that he didn't seem to 

 relish much. Whatever you eat yourself, or nearly so, Maggy will 

 eat, for nothing seems to come amiss to him: he requires a good- 

 sized cage, and ought also to be allowed to run about as much as 

 possible. 



