THEIR POWERS OF IMITATION 411 



stantly at a distance from his haunts in the depths of the 

 forests, and are so far from seeking his company, that they 

 retreat as fast as they can on seeing him approach. How 

 comes it, then, that they have been gifted with their wonderful 

 ability to imitate his language and his actions, and of what use 

 is it to them or to us ? 



The talent of speech has not been given to all the parrots 

 alike. The beautiful American aras, for instance, are in this 

 respect remarkably stupid, while the purple lory of the East 

 Indies, and the grey African parrot {Psittacua erithacus), are 

 remarkable for their linguistic attainments. They are often 

 able to retain whole songs and sentences, and to repeat them 

 with astonishing exactness. Thus Le Vaillant mentions a grey 

 parrot he saw at the Cape, who was able to repeat the whole of 

 the Lord's Prayer in Dutch, throwing himself at the same time 

 on his back, and folding the toes of both his feet. 



In a town of Normandy the wife of a butcher had beaten her 

 little child so unmercifully that it died in consequence of the 

 ill-treatment it had undergone. No enquiry was made on 

 the subject; but a grey parrot that inhabited the opposite 

 house of a shoemaker constantly repeated, " Why do you beat 

 me? why do you beat me?" in so plaintive and imploring a 

 tone, that the passers-by rushed into the shoemaker's shop and 

 loudly exclaimed against his supposed barbarity. To exculpate 

 himself, the poor shoemaker pointed to his parrot, and told the 

 story of the child ; so that after a short time the woman, against 

 whom the indignation of the public was now fully roused, was 

 obliged to leave the town. 



Willoughby mentions a grey parrot who, on being told to 

 laugh, immediately burst into a loud fit of laughter, and soon 

 after exclaimed, " How impertinent, to order me to laugh ! "' 

 Another parrot that was kept in an earthenware shop never 

 failed, when an article was broken or ill-used, to exclaim, " How 

 clumsy ! " Buflfon mentions a parrot who, having been taught 

 to speak during the passage by an old sailor, had so completely 

 adopted his gruff voice and husky cough, as to be mistaken 

 for the weather-beaten tarpaulin himself. Although the bird 

 was afterwards presented to a young lady, and no more heard 

 the voice of its first instructor, it did not forget his lessons, 

 and nothing could be more ludicrous than to hear it suddenly 



