i68 



the back of her chair while she rocked and sang 

 this hymn over and over. 



The parrot would only sing this in one way. It 

 had to be shut up in a shawl or towel, or something 

 of the kind, and swung about. For a while it 

 would be perfectly quiet. Then, as it swung, it 

 would begin to sing this hymn. It would sing it 

 as long as the swinging continued. 



Polly sang and talked so well that a friend of 

 her mistress asked if she might not send her parrot 

 over to visit Polly for a while. She hoped that 

 this other parrot, whose name was Punch, might 

 learn something from Polly. 



For a while after Punch came, Polly was perfectly 

 silent. She was observing- him. 



Punch knew two sentences. He could say, 

 " Punch wants a cracker," and " Scratch Punch's 

 head." He also knew part of a song called 

 " Pretty Polly Hopkins." 



He sang this song in a very curious way. He 

 would sing a few notes and then skip to quite 

 another part of the song like this : 



" Pretty, pretty Polly Hop — 

 do, how d'ye — 



