THE PIE KIND. 



to be repeated here ; but Clusius assures us, that 

 the parrots of that country are the most sensible 

 and cunning of all animals not endued with rea- 

 son. The great parrot, called the Aicurous, the 

 head of which is adorned with yellow, red, and 

 violet, the body green, the ends of the wings red, 

 the feathers of the tail long and yellow ; this bird, 

 he asserts, which is seldom brought into Europe, 

 is a prodigy of understanding. " A certain Bra- 

 silian woman, that lived in a village two miles 

 distant from the island on which we resided, had 

 a parrot of this kind which was the wonder of the 

 place. It seemed endued with such understand- 

 ing, as to discern and comprehend whatever she 

 said to it. As we sometimes used to pass by 

 that woman's house, she used to call upon us to 

 stop, promising, if we gave her a comb, or a look- 

 ing-glass, that she would make her parrot sing 

 and dance to entertain us. If we agreed to her 

 request, as soon as she had pronounced some 

 words to the bird, it began not only to leap and 

 skip on the perch on which it stood, but also to 

 talk and to whistle, and imitate the shoutings and 

 exclamations of the Brasilians when they prepare 

 for battle. In brief, when it came into the 

 woman's head to bid it sing, it sang ; to dance, 

 it danced. But if, contrary to our promise, we 

 refused to give the woman the little present 

 agreed on, the parrot seemed to sympathize in 

 her resentment, and was silent and immoveable ; 

 neither could we, by any means, provoke it to 

 move either foot or tongue." 



