CHAPTER II. 
Do Birds understand what they say ?—Anecdotes in point— 
Sand-martins at Weybridge—Swallows killed by Para- 
sites—Swan feeding Cygnets—Cock-turkey as Nurse— 
Disposition of Egg-shells in Nests of Partridges, éc.— 
£9gs of White Pheasunt—of Himalayan diito—Hatching 
by Pheasants and Hens compared—Two Species of Land 
Lizards—Large Lizard in Spain—Estremadura—Black 
Viper—Fetidness of Common Snake—Snake and Eel. 
1 a pleasant article contributed to Fraser's 
Magazine in October, 1857, entitled “Jays 
and Nutcrackers,” are collected some anecdotes of 
birds, with a view of proving that those brought 
up in confinement, and taught to speak, in time 
become acquainted with the meaning of the words 
which they utter. Now whether such cases as 
those referred to are merely the result of acci- 
dental coincidence ; whether, having been taught 
to associate certain words with certain actions, 
it is only by rote and mechanically that birds are 
led to repeat them at the appropriate times, as 
M 
