AFRICAN GRAY PARROT AND OTHER PARROTS. 



with it : some of the birds prefer the regular mixture of equal parts of hemp-seed, 

 unhulled rice, and cracked com. Each should have, in addition to the seeds, daily, 

 stale bread soaked in coffee. The cage-base should be well strewn with coarse 

 gravel. 



Birds do not differ at all from children respecting the need of regular and syste- 

 matic instruction. If you are interested in having a bird talk intelligently, give him 

 intelligent instruction. What advancement can be expected in a child who is given 

 French in five-minutes' lessons once a week, mathematics for seventy-seven seconds 

 fortnightly, with Sanscrit crowded in as a sort of condiment at dinner-hours? but 

 such a method, or want of method, is the one pursued in teaching a creature which 

 cannot even articulate ; yet the bird is expected to learn, not only to enunciate 

 distinctly, but also to reason correctly if not abstrusely. If a proper method of 

 instruction is followed, there is no imaginary fixed line in intellectual progress 

 beyond which a Parrot of ordinary ability may not go. Many cases could be cited 

 to prove this statement if it were deemed necessary ; but you will have the best 

 proof if you take a baby Parrot, and follow out in detail the outlines of the pro- 

 gressive course hinted at above. 



There is no known method of making a talking Parrot speak, and it is as impos- 

 sible to compel one to speak as it is to compel some garrulous people to keep silence. 

 As a bird talks most when in a fairly quiet place, and not in the presence of 

 strangers, it is seldom one can be heard in a bird-shop where there is a constant 

 racket, and a continuous procession of new faces. The better plan, if you wish to 

 buy a talker, is, to consult the seller's list of birds and the memoranda of sentences, 

 songs, imitations, and other accomplishments each Parrot has, and then buy the 

 bird on the seller's guaranty in the bill, that, if not satisfactory in four or six weeks' 

 trial, he may be exchanged for another. It takes four or six weeks for a bird to get 

 accustomed to a new home and new faces so he will talk freely. 



METHODS OF TAMING PARROTS, 



Some trainers tame Parrots by force. With hands encased in strong doeskin 

 gloves, the tamer seizes the bird by the legs, pulls it out of the cage by force, 

 without heeding its screeching and biting, holds it firmly on the forefinger of the 

 left hand, with the thumb over the feet, and sTikes it with the right hand until it 

 yields to its fate and becomes tame and quiet. For this, courage is, before all things, 

 necessary, besides skill and patience, and indifference to the pain, which, in spite of 

 the gloves, the bites of the bird may cause. In order to break a Parrot of the habit 

 of biting, he should be struck with the forefinger, or a pencil, on the beak whenever 

 he attempts it. Food should be withheld for some hours each dav while the bird is 

 being tamed, and lie will the sooner become docile. 



Some trainers who follow the above method begin with the bird in the morning, 

 and devote the whole of each day, and sometimes the hours after sunset, for four or 

 five days, and thus the bird's timidity or defiance are conquered, and it becomes 

 tame from hunger and weariness. Other modes of taming may be slower and oc- 

 cupy more time, yet they have the advantage of establishing more friendly relations 

 between the trainer and the bird. In these quieter methods it is necessary, when 

 giving food, or in approaching the bird at any time, to be quiet and friendly, and to 



