■ 22


told the otlier day, in tUe Zoo, that Parrot fever had at last

invaded the Amazons.


We may suppose that everyone who bu3^s a Parrot would

agree that my list of qualifications is the right ideal. In what

species will the nearest approach be found to it ?


Now it must be understood at once that in what I am

going to say I shall speak of species as a whole, and only of

mj^ own experience of them. If I say Cockatoos are noisy, I shall

l3e extremely interested if any one can aver with truth that they

have one which never screams, but it will not in the least aflfedt

ni}^ position, which is this, that I have found the Cockatoos I kept

noisy.


I.— MACAWS.


People who write about Parrots generally begin with

Macaws. Let me do so too. The Macaw excels all the other

-Parrots in intelligence and in affection for its master ; and in

powers of speech, so long as it is a cock-bird ; but it is not small,

Jt is not clean, and none of mine could be warranted never to

scream. To keep a Macaw one wants a Parrot-house and a parlc

They are beautiful objects when. seen at a great height in the

air, but in a garden they are too destructive to the smaller trees.


And then a tame bird never really enjoys its liberty.

There are some Parrots jovl cannot trust out ; but it is, I am

convinced, because they fly out of reach the first time they are

let out. Let a Parrot once know its way ho)ne, and it will

always be wanting to come back as soon as it is turned out. I

had one Blue and Yellow Macaw which, though a good talker, was

an idiot. It flew to a branch, and there it would have stayed till

it died, unless it were frightened off, or caught. But all my other

Macaws came back. And then the trouble is, they come in at

the windows of the house, and, if no one sees them, they may

make matches of a priceless piece of furniture, before they are-

found out !


If one could only put the dog-like intelligence and"

affection of a Macaw into a Senegal or Meyer's Parrot, one

would compound for the want of brilliant colour. But I fear for

the ordinary householder the Maca:w miist be put outside the

range of practical pets.


■ Yet even with Macaws (though I write as if I had been'


Parrot-keeper in the Ark, and had had every kind) riiy experience

has been very limited. I do not say that I have not studied the

other species in other people's keeping, but for myself, I have



