THE ASH-COLOURED PARROT. 129 



Locke's anecdote of a parrot. 



the room where the prince was sitting in com- 

 pany with several Dutchmen, it immediately ex- 

 claimed, in the Brasilian language, " What a 

 company of white men are here !" They asked 

 it, " Who is that man ?" (pointing to the prince), 

 the bird answered, " Some general or other." 

 When the attendants carried it up to him, he 

 asked it, through the medium of an interpreter, 

 (for he was ignorant of its language,) " From 

 whence do you come ?" the bird answered, 

 " From Marignan." The prince asked, " To 

 whom do you belong?" It answered, <( To a 

 Portuguese." He asked again, " What do you 

 do there?" It answered, " I look after the 

 chickens." The prince, laughing, exclaimed, 

 " You look after chickens !" The parrot in an- 

 swer said, " Yes, I; and I know well enough how 

 to do it;" clucking at the same time, in imitation 

 of the noise made by the hen to call together 

 her young." 



This account came directly from the prince to 

 the above author : he said, that though the par- 

 rot spoke in a language he did not understand, 

 yet he could not be deceived, for he had in the 

 room both a Dutchman who spoke Brasilian, 

 and a Brasilian who spoke Dutch : that he asked 

 them separately and privately, and both agreed 

 very exactly in giving him the parrot's discourse. 



A curious discovery was made by means of a 

 parrot, in Stephen-Street, Dublin, about twenty- 

 five years ago. It is customary in that country 



VOL. in. NO. xvin. R 



