106 CUBAN P 'ABBOT. 



2nd., 1887, "a most wonderful talker in a male Undulated Grass 

 Parrakeet (Budgerigar) ; it is quite a plain speaker, and has not learnt 

 from another bird, for I taught him myself from the first, and now 

 he pronounces very distinctly different words he hears that suit his 

 fancy; such as, ' Oh ! you wicked boy; so you are.' I find the females 

 will also talk fairly well." 



If then this mite of a bird can be taught to imitate the human 

 voice, what may not be expected from the more highly gifted Cuban 

 Parrot, if taken in hand young and carefully trained? The attempt 

 certainly is worth making, if only from a pecuniary point of view; for, 

 say that a newly imported White-headed Parrot is worth twenty shillings 

 in the market, the same bird capable of repeating distinctly half a 

 dozen or so of short sentences, or even a few words, would certainly 

 be worth double, or treble, the sum named, or even more. Let amateurs 

 therefore persevere, for in the Cuban they have a plastic material to 

 work with ; a bird which a high authority in this connection pronounces 

 to be teachable, good-tempered, easily tamed, and chattering all day. 



The Hon. and Rev. F. G. Dutton's account of the White-headed 

 Amazon (Chrysotis leucocephala). 



I eecollect the first of this species that I saw was a very tame little 

 bird, that used to run about the kitchen floor in the house where we 

 lived. He would say "Pretty Polly", and he loved having his poll 

 scratched. But thei*e his accomplishments ended. After a time his 

 mistress, whose devotion to him was not, I think, very deep, found 

 that he was infested with vermin, and sent him to the Zoological 

 Gardens, from which she never, I believe, took him back. 



I have written thus at length about him, because I think he was a 

 very typical specimen of his kind. Bechstein speaks of it as "very 

 tame and talkative." I should agree with the "very tame." I look 

 upon it as perhaps the most easily tamed of all the Amazons, but as 

 a decidedly indifferent talker. Other people have given it a good 

 character for talking; and it cannot be too often repeated, that you 

 may find clever individuals in species that learn with difficulty; and 

 individuals absolutely incapable of learning anything of the very cleverest 

 species. Still, as a whole, the small Amazons are not, according to 

 my experience, good talkers; and the White-headed is not even good 

 amongst the small Amazons. 



Their price varies according to the number in the market. Unless 

 the specimen be clever, £1 is ample at any time. They might be 

 bought much cheaper. 



