72 



INTELLECTUAL AND IMITATIVE 



without cracking, when he took up a bad nut, he 

 knew it to be so without cracking it, and very 

 indignantly threw it on the ground. He was 

 remarkably fond of music ; and with motions of his 

 feet along the perch, movements of his wings, and 

 his head moving backwards and forwards, he danced 

 to all lively tunes, and kept exact time. If any 

 one sung or played in wrong measure, he quickly 

 desisted. 



He was very friendly to strangers, and put on a 

 terrific appearance towards children, for fear of 

 injury from them, and was very jealous of infants. 

 In rainy weather the blue feathers looked green ; 

 and also in clear weather, when there were vapours 

 in the sky ; hence he was an admirable weather- 

 gage. What proved a peculiar sagacity in his 

 imitations, was, that they were effected sometimes 

 without his voice : for example, there was a scissors- 

 grinder, who came every Friday into the street i 

 where the bird was kept. All Parrots have a file in \ 

 the inside of the upper mandible, with which they ; 

 grind down the under bill, and in this they are 

 employed for an hour every evening. This sound i 

 people usually mistake for snoring. This scraping , 

 was attempted, but the nice ear marked the differ- , 

 ence, and he had recourse to his claws, which he \ 

 struck against the perch, armed with tin, and obser- 

 ving the time of the turning of the wheel, he effected 

 a most exact imitation, which he repeated every ■ 

 Friday. Sometimes the child's pap would be taken 

 to the window, and beaten with the spoon : this he 



