ALEXANDRINE PABBAEEET. 55 



her banana out of the sand-tray at tlie bottom of his rope-ladder, 

 without being detected in the act. 



"The great fun was to watch her and Jacko in their contests for 

 the upper perch. Polly having taken her 'tiffing was disposed for an 

 afternoon nap, and she accordingly commenced to mount the rope- 

 ladder, but Jacko immediately set up a chatter, savagely showing his 

 teeth meanwhile, and shaking the rope violently to impede the move- 

 ments of Poll. In spite of this, up she goes steadily, hand over hand, 

 nearer and nearer to the coveted perch, on which sits the monkey in 

 a boiling passion, and trembling with excitement. Holding on by his 

 tail and hind legs, he now attempts to get hold of Poll, but she snaps 

 at his hands right and left, with a rapidity that is perfectly astounding, 

 and presently a shriek of pain announces that her beak has drawn 

 blood, and down drops poor Jacko like a stone, whilst Poll takes quiet 

 possession of the perch, where, after repeating a few self-congratulary 

 notes, she dozes off as if nothing had happened. Jacko meanwhile 

 sits upon his haunches, examining his bite with a very rueful coun- 

 tenance; but a little petting from me sets him right, and a thorough 

 examination of everything eatable and drinkable having been made, 

 he goes regularly to work to 'blow the steam off/ 



"Making the rope-ladder his centre, he performs a series of splendid 

 jumps to it from all the articles of furniture in the room — much to 

 the disgust of Polly— and then, after a headlong rush round the apart- 

 ment, he bounds up the ladder like a flash of lightning, and makes a 

 grab at Polly's tail, dropping at once to the ground, to escape the 

 consequences of this daring act. The bird, however, was never injured 

 by him in this way, for she watched his every movement, the only 

 time that he ever stole a march upon her was once when she happened 

 to be feeding in the sand-tray, immediately beneath the rope-ladder, 

 down which her stealthy enemy slipped like a serpent, and making a 

 snatch caught her by the base of her tail. 



"At that moment a well directed bunch of bananas from me hit 

 him in the chest, and down he came, whereupon Poll seized him by 

 the fleshy part of the lower arm and bit it through. 



"This was a lesson which he never forgot, and although his devil- 

 ment compelled him to annoy Poll, as a source of fun, still he grew 

 to respect, if he did not love her." 



A couple of companions like the above were certainly enough to 

 make a young fellow well, in spite of doctors and 'lead-poisoning', 

 and we feel glad on reading it that the narrator was spared to tell 

 the tale. 



There is no doubt the subject of the present notice is quite as 



