338 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



bird sang a number of songs in perfect time and 

 tune ; she could express her wants articulately, and 

 give her orders in a manner approaching nearly to 

 rationality. Her age was not known ; it was, how- 

 ever, more than thirty years, for previously to that 

 period Mr. O'Kelly bought her at Bristol for a 

 hundred guineas. The Colonel was repeatedly of- 

 fered five hundred guineas a year for the bird, by 

 persons who wished to make a public exhibition of 

 her ; but this, out of tenderness to the favourite, he 

 constantly refused. The bird was dissected by Dr. 

 Kennedy and Mr. Brookes ; and the muscles of the 

 larynx, which regulate the voice, were found, from 

 the effect of practice, to be uncommonly strong*.' 5> 



There are many persons now alive who have 

 witnessed these scarcely credible performances. 

 Amongst these the Hon. and Rev. W. H. Herbert 

 says, " that wonderful bird, Colonel O'Kelly's parrot, 

 which I had the satisfaction of seeing and hearing, 

 (about the year 1799, if I recollect rightly,) beat the 

 time always with his foot, turning round upon the 

 perch while singing, and marking the time as it 

 turned. This extraordinary creature sang perfectly 

 about fifty different tunes of every kind, ' God save 

 the King,' solemn psalms, and humorous or low 

 ballads, of which it articulated every word as dis- 

 tinctly as a man could do, without even making a 

 mistake. If a bystander sang any part of the song, 

 it would pause and take up the song where the 

 person had left off without repeating what he had 

 said. When moulting and unwilling to sing, it 

 would answer all solicitations by turning its back and 

 repeatedly saying, ' Poll's sick.' I am persuaded 

 that its instructor had taught it to beat time f." 



M. Montbeillard says he saw a parrot of the grey 

 sort which grew old with its master and shared with 



* Anim. Biog. ii. 227. 

 t Notes to White's Selborne, 8vo. edit. 1832. 



