534 THE GEEEN PAEEOT. 



insist upon using exactly when it ougiit to have been silent, but suddenly changed its 

 nature and subsided into a tender and gentle foster-mother. 



In the garden of its owner there were a number of standard rose-trees, around all of 

 which w^as a circular wire fence covered with convolvuluses and honeysuckle. Within 

 one of these fences a pair of goldfinches had made their nest, and were constantly fed by the 

 inhabitants of the house, who all had a great love for beasts and birds, and took a delight in 

 helping the little creatures under their charge ; and, indeed, were deeply interested in 

 animated nature generally. Polly soon remarked the constant visits to the rose-tree, and 

 the donations of crumbs and seeds that w^ere regularly given, and must follow so good an 

 example. So she set off to the spot ; and after looking at the birds for a little while, went 

 to her cage, brought a beakful of her sopped bread, and put it into the nest. 



At last the young liirds were hatched, much to Polly's delight ; but she became so 

 enero-etic in her demonstrations of attachment that she pushed herself fairly through the 

 wire meshes, and terrified the parents so much that they flew away. Polly, seeing them 

 deserted, took on herself the task of foster-mother, and was so attentive to her little charge 

 that she refused to go back to her cage, but remained with the little birds by night as well 

 as by day, feeding them carefully, and forcing them to open their beaks if they refused 

 her attentions. When they were able to hop about they were very fond of getting on her 

 back, where four of them would gravely sit, wdiile the fifth, which w^as the youngest, or at 

 all events the smallest, always preferred to perch on Polly's head. 



With all these little ones on her back, Polly would very deliberately walk up and down 

 the lawn as if to give them exercise ; and would sometimes vary her performance by 

 rising into the air, thus setting the ten little wings in violent motion, and giving the birds 

 a hard task to remain on her back. By degrees they became less fearful, and when she 

 rose from the ground, they would leave her back and fly down. They were but un- 

 grateful little creatures after all ; for when they were fully fledged they flew aw\ay, and 

 never came back again to their foster-mother. 



Poor Polly was for some time in great trouble about the desertion of her foster-children, 

 but soon consoled herself by taking care of another little brood. These belonged to a pair 

 of hedj;e-sparrows, whose home had been broken up by the descent of some large bird, 

 which was supposed to have been a hawk by the effects produced. . Polly found the little 

 birds in dire distress ; and contrived in some ingenious manner to get them, one by one, 

 on her back, and to fly with them to her cage. Here she established the little family ; 

 never entering the cage except for the purpose of attending to her young charge. 



The oddest part of the matter was, that one of the parents survived, and Polly was 

 seen to talk to her in the most absurd manner ; mixing up her acquired vocabulary with 

 that universal bird-Janguage that seems to be common to all the feathered tribes, and plen- 

 tifully interlarding her discourse with sundry profane expressions. At last the instinctive 

 language conquered the human, and the two birds seemed to understand each other 

 perfectly well. At that time Polly was supposed to be about eight or nine years old. 



There is a rather general belief that only the male Parrot can talk, but this is merely a 

 popular error. The female Parrot has often been known to be an excellent talker, and at 

 the same time has proved her sex by the deposition of a solitary egg. As might be 

 supposed, such eggs produce no young ; but there are accredited instances where the Grey 

 Parrot has bred in Europe. In Buftbn's well-known work may be seen a notice of a pair 

 of Parrots that bred regularly for five or six years, and brought up their young success- 

 fully. The place chosen for their incubation was a tub, partially filled with sawdust, 

 and was probably selected because it bore some resemblance to the hollow trunk of a tree, 

 which is the usual nesting-place of the Parrots. 



The general colour of this bird is a very pure ashen grey, except the tail, which is 

 deep scarlet. 



Two species of Green Parrot are tolerably common, the one being the Festive Green 

 I'ARiiOT, and the other the Amazon Green Parrot. 



The former bii'd is a much larger and altogether finer species than the latter, often 

 measuring sixteen inches in length. It is found in various parts of South America, such 



