BIEDS — EMULATION AND VINDICTIVENESS. 277 



many,' the following graphic description of the exultation 

 displayed by the bird when it baffled the imitative powers 

 of its master. The bird was the same as that already 

 mentioned under the head of 'Memory': — 



Sometimes when only two or three were in the room, at quiet 

 occupations instead of talking, she would utter at short inter- 

 vals a series of strong squalls or cries in an interjectional style, 

 each more strange and grotesque than the previous one. My 

 father on these occasions sometimes amused himself by imitat- 

 ing these cries as she uttered them, which seemed to excite her 

 ingenuity in the production of them to the uttermost. As a last 

 resource she always had recourse to a very peculiar one, which 

 completely baffled him ; upon which, with a loud ha ! ha ! ha ! 

 she made a somersault round her perch, swinging with her head 

 downwards, sprung from one part of the cage to another, and 

 tossed a bit of wood she used as a toy over her head in the 

 most exulting triumph, repeating at intervals the inimitable cry, 

 followed by peals of ha ! ha ! ha ! to the great amusement of all 

 present. 



Allied to emulation is resentment, of which the follow- 

 ing, communicated to me by a correspondent, may be 

 taken as an example. If space permitted I could give 

 confirmatory cases : — 



One day the cat and the parrot had a quarrel, I think the 

 cat had upset Polly's food, or something of that kind ; however, 

 they seemed all right again. An hour or so after, Polly was 

 standing on the edge of the table ; she called out in a tone of 

 extreme affection, * Puss, puss, come then— come then, pussy.' 

 Pussy went and looked up innocently enough. Polly ^vith 

 her beak seized a basin of milk standing by, and tipped the 

 basin and all its contents over the cat; then chuckled diabolically, 

 of course broke the basin, and half drowned the cat. 



Several strange but mutually corroborative stories 

 seem to show cherished vindictiveness on the part of 

 storks. Thus, in Captain Brown's book there occurs an 

 account of a tame stork which lived in the college yard at 

 Tiibingen, — 



And in a neighbouring house was a nest, in which other storks, 

 that annually resorted to the place, used to hatch their eggs. 

 At this nest, one day in autumn, a young collegian fired a shot, 



