VI 



BIKDS UNCOMMON AND MEMOKABLE 



A PARKOT'S WHO'S WHO 



THE story of the parrot on p. 711 of the Spectator of 

 November 7 reminds me of an incident told me by the 

 late Canon Courtney, of Bovey Tracey, as having 

 occurred in his presence when he was once staying at 

 a country house when there was a large party of notables. 

 One evening, as the gentlemen of the party were filing 

 into the dining-room for family prayers (not then out of 

 fashion), the parrot, whose cage was near the door, eyed 

 each entrant as if endeavouring to recognize them. As 

 the most diminutive of the gentlemen passed in, the 

 parrot, evidently puzzled, said most distinctly : " And who 

 the devil are you?" It was Lord John Eussell. 



A. T. FRYER. 



November 21, 1908. 



A PARROT'S LOGIC 



In the Spectator of January 12, I made a mention of a 

 handsome green parrot for which my great-grandmother, 

 Lady Aldborough, is said to have paid 40, and which 

 came into my possession when I was eight years old. 

 Jacko had been left to my grandmother, but he was, to use 

 my father's phrase, such " a savage brute " with most 

 people, and his love at first sight for me was so marked, 

 that he was soon made over to me. If anyone petted 

 me he was jealous ; if anyone pretended to beat me he 

 was furious. Max Miiller contended that the line between 

 human reason and animal intelligence is not so hard-and- 



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