202 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



the ravens. Dickens's description of one in the preface 

 to Barnaby Budge is too familiar to need quoting for 

 English and American readers. 



Naumann's remark that ravens are more easily 

 taught to speak than parrots is probably an exagger- 

 ation,* but it is undeniable that imitativeness has 

 reached an extraordinary development in these birds. 

 Chr. L. Brehm says of one: " His talent for mimicking 

 every sound with his voice is remarkable. He laughs 

 like the children, coos like the pigeons, barks like a dog, 

 and talks like a man. His reproduction of certain tones 

 is so deceptive that some of my friends, hearing him 

 for the first time, could not be convinced that such 

 sounds actually proceeded from a bird. ' James, come 

 here/ ' Eudolph, come in,' ' Don't you hear me, Chris- 

 tine?' and much more, he articulated perfectly and 

 voluntarily, not because it was required of him. He 

 picked up all these words, for no one ever took the 

 least pains with him, but he could be heard trying new 

 words every day, of those that he constantly heard 

 around him." f The Mullers, too, mention similar in- 

 stances.! 



But of all birds, parrots are the ones that manifest 

 playful imitation most strongly. Their powers were 

 well known as far back as the Romans, for Cato thun- 

 ders against the luxuriousness of the jeunesse doree of 

 his time for flaunting in the streets with parrots on their 

 thumbs; and courtiers under the emperors taught the 

 birds the formula of greeting and gratulation to the 



* Naturgeschichte der Vogel Deutschlands, ii, p. 47. 

 f BeitrSge zur VOgelkunde, ii, p. 30. 



X A. and K. Mliller, Wohnungen, Leben und EigenthUmlich- 

 keiten in der hSheren Thierwelt, p. 364. 



