204 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



too, on occasion. On hearing a low whistle, he said, 

 4 Karo, where is Karo?' and himself whistled for the 

 dog. He could whistle with rare skill a great variety 

 of melodies, and reproduce any air perfectly. As soon 

 as the dinner bell rang he called the waitress louder and 

 louder until she appeared. If a knock came at the 

 door, he said ' Come in/ but was never deceived by any 

 one in the room. If he saw preparation made for un- 

 corking a bottle, he made the noise long before the 

 cork was out. He talked to himself in soft, gentle 

 tones, " You good, good Jacky/ etc., but would call out 

 in a strong masculine voice, ' Turn out, guard ! ' etc., 

 and make the roll of a drum. He could count, and 

 if he made a mistake or mispronounced a word he would 

 go back and try it again till it was all right. When 

 the green parrot standing near him screamed, he first 

 tried to quiet her with a reproving <Pst!' but if that 

 did not avail he called out in a loud voice, ' Hush, hush, 

 you! ' He loved to talk to himself late in the evening, 

 and regularly closed his monologue with the words, 

 ' Good night, good night, Jacky.' n * 



Herr Ch. Schwendt says of his gray parrot: "My 

 parrot is a living proof that one should never despair 

 of teaching these birds to speak. I had to wait eight 

 months before he brought out the word ' Jacob/ but 

 the ice once broken, I was richly rewarded for my pa- 

 tience; he learned something new almost every day, 

 and now after four years he knows more than I can tell. 

 There is hardly any expression commonly used in the 

 family that he has not learned to repeat, and how well 

 he knows how to apply them! He speaks of everybody 

 in the house and all the animals by name, whistles to the 



* K. Russ, Die sprechenden Papageien, 1887, p. 28. 



