84 JARDINE'S PARROT. 



"in a small, rather throaty voice"; and he has at different times pos- 

 sessed several examples of the species, of which every one differed from 

 the other in character. 



Herr Schlechtendal possessed two of these birds, which he believed 

 to be a pair, for a year and a half; but says they were dull creatures 

 (langweilige Gescliopfe) , and had none of the sprightliness of the Moh- 

 renkojpfe, or Senegal Parrots. 



Herr Wiener, too, has nothing much to say in commendation of them; 

 but one of his pair dying, the other passed into the custody of Dr. 

 Russ, who relates that he had a good opportunity of observing it, 

 and found that in its habits it resembled the Black-headed Parrot; 

 and when frightened or teased, would give utterance to a shrill cry; 

 but not one word do these gentlemen say of the talking powers of 

 their birds. 



Our own experience is that the Jardine's Parrot does talk, and that 

 passably, though a stranger will scarcely understand what it says, unless 

 some one that is well acquainted with the creature acts as interpreter; 

 but it seems to have a lamentable tendency to self-mutilation. Perhaps 

 our William was not kept sufficiently amused, and that ennui caused 

 it to turn round and pluck itself, until its back was completely bare, 

 and very often bleeding. Nothing seemed of the least avail to stop 

 the horrid practice; and when at last we had to make a post-mortem 

 examination of the remains, the only possible verdict was one of felo 

 de se; nor was the bird particularly lamented, when the kitchin range 

 one day after dinner received all that was left of it for decent cre- 

 mation. 



A native of the Gold Coast, this Parrot is not particularly uncommon, 

 nor is it very dear; the dealers of whom we have made inquiry 

 demanding from twenty-five to thirty shillings for a newly-imported 

 specimen; though of course a trained bird that could talk a little 

 might bring a great deal more, and fetch perhaps as much as five 

 pounds; which reminds us that possibly we appreciated our bird less 

 than it deserved, for the reason that we paid nothing for it, that it 

 was half denuded of its feathers when it passed into our possession, 

 and that all our efforts to reclaim it were in vain. Very likely had 

 it been in good condition, or had our endeavours to break it of its 

 naughty habit been attended with success, we should have prized it 

 more than, we admit, we ever did. 



The London Zoological Society received their first specimen of 

 Jardine's Parrot in 1862; since which date others have been intro- 

 duced into the Parrot House, of which one example was a very nice 

 tame bird, that eventually took to plucking itself, and probably died 



