CAROLINA PARROT. 251 
to “durance vile,” we generally had a quarrel; during which it fre- 
quently paid me in kind for the wound I had inflicted, and for 
depriving it of liberty, by cutting and almost disabling several of my 
fingers with its sharp and powerful bill. The path through the wilder- 
ness between Nashville and Natchez is in some places bad beyond 
description. There are dangerous creeks to swim, miles of morass. to 
struggle through, r2ndered almost as gloomy as night by a prodigious 
growth of timber, and an underwood of canes and other evergreens ; 
while the descent into these sluggish streams is often ten or fifteen 
feet perpendicular, into a bed of deep clay. In some of the worst 
of these places, where I had, as it were, to fight my way through, 
the Paroquet frequently escaped from my pocket, obliging me to dis- 
mount and pursue it through the worst of thé morass before I 
could regain it. On these occasions, I was several times’ tempted to 
abandon it; but 1 persisted in bringing it along. When at night I 
encamped in the woods, I placed it on the baggage beside me, where 
it usually sat with great composure, dozing and gazing at the fire till 
morning. In this manner I carried it upwards of a thousand miles, in 
my pocket, where it was exposed all day to the jolting of the horse, 
but regularly liberated at meal times and in the evening, at which it 
always expressed great satisfaction. In passing through the Chick- 
asaw and Chactaw nations, the Indians, wherever 1 stopped to feed, 
collected around me, men, women, and children, laughing, and seeming 
wonderfully amused with the novelty of my companion. The Chick- 
asaws called it in their language “ Kelinky;” but when they heard 
me call it Poll, they soon repeated the name; and, wherever I chanced 
to stop among these people, we soon becanie familiar with each other 
through the medium of Poll. On arriving at Mr. Dunbar’s, below 
Natchez, I procured a cage, and placed it under the piazza, where, 
by its call, it soon attracted the passing flocks; such is the attach- 
ment they have for each other. Numerous parties frequently alighted 
on the trees immediately above, keeping up a constant conversation 
with the prisoner. One of these I wounded slightly in the wing, and 
the pleasure Poll expressed on meeting with this new companion was 
really amusing. She crept close up to it as it hung on the side of the 
cage; chattered to it in a low tone of voice, as if sympathizing in its 
misfortune; scratched about its head and neck with her bill; and 
both at night nestled as close as possible to cach other, sometimes 
Poll’s head being thrust among the plumage of the other. On the 
death of this companion, she appeared restless and inconsolable for 
several days. On reaching New Orleans, I placed a looking-glass 
beside the place where she usually sat, and the instant she perceived 
her image, all her former fondness seemed to return, so that she could 
scarcely absent herself from it a moment. It was evident that she 
was completely deceived. Always when evening drew on, and often 
during the day, she laid her head close to that of the image in the 
glass, and began to doze with great composure and satisfaction. In 
this short space she had learned to know her name; to answer, and 
come when called on; to climb up my clothes, sit‘on my shoulder, and 
eat from my mouth. I took her with me to sea, determined to perse- 
vete in her education; but, destined to another fate, poor Poll, having 
one morning about day break, wrought her way through the cage, 
