A MUSICAL PARRAKEET 285 



sidering the talking faculties of Parrots, which 

 have a less elaborate vocal apparatus than these 

 Mynahs or other Passerine birds, and seem to 

 have no imitative faculty at all until reclaimed by 

 man ; though as a matter of fact, I do not suppose 

 much is known of the intimate habits of Parrots, 

 which, like most birds of particular interest to the 

 " man in the street," are neglected by ornithologists, 

 and are in any case not easy to study when wild, 

 most of them either spending all their lives in the 

 tree- tops, or at any rate retiring to them when 

 not feeding. 



At least one can sing, however, the familiar little 

 Budgerigar, and this bird, when hand-reared, can 

 be taught to talk hardly any Parrot, by the way, 

 will learn anything when adult ; but in the case of 

 the present species I have known an unmated cock, 

 kept in an aviary along with a Thrush and other 

 birds, learn the Thrush's rather complex song 

 quite perfectly, though of course his rendering of 

 it was in a very " still, small voice." 



Several of the other non-passerine groups contain 

 singers, song having been recorded in Hornbills, 

 Kingfishers, and Humming-birds, the singer in the 

 last case being the smallest or almost the smallest 

 of all, the Vervain Humming-bird (Mellisuga 

 minima) ; in fact, generally speaking, song-birds 

 are small members of their groups, the large Lyre- 

 bird being quite an exception. The Amherst and 

 Cheer Pheasants also undoubtedly sing, if the song 

 is not very musical, and observers of that charming 



