i6 
NATURE NOTES. 
which soon grows to be the heaviest of the nestlings, and if that be so, there is 
no reason for regarding its action as a kind of “ special providence.” 
Arthur W. Hutton. 
Blackbirds defending their Nest.— Early in May, having noticed a 
pair of blackbirds slipping in and out of a thick lime tree not a dozen yards from 
the house, I was in hopes they were building there, but one morning I was awoke 
by such a continual screaming and chattering that I began to doubt the desirability 
of .such neighbours quite so near. However, on looking out, I found there was 
good cause for the disturbance. Our large Persian cat was silting in the middle 
of the tree (near, as I afterwards discovered, to a nest), and the two birds were 
flitting backwards and forwards close to her, sometimes hitting her head with their 
wings and scolding with all their might. This lasted more than half-an-hour, and 
now and then the poor things seemed quite worn out and hopeless, but after a few 
minutes they would begin the attack again with renewed vigour, the cat all the 
time pretending to take no notice of them. When finally we went out and enticed 
the cat down, the cock was bold enough to remain in the tree, and hopped about 
in a triumphant sort of way. I as soon as possible fixed a crinoline of coarse wire 
netting round the top of the tree trunk, so I trust the nests will be safe from cats 
in future. During the cold wet weather at the end of the month the birds seemed 
to have deserted the tree, but they are back again now, and a second hen has also 
appeared on the scene. 
Hampstead. E. K. H. 
“ Zulu ” the Parrot. — While staying a short time ago at the house of some 
friends in Bristol, I was much struck with the great tameness of a young grey 
parrot which one of the members of the family had recently brought home from 
South Africa. When purchased, Zulu (for that was his name) was but a few 
weeks old, and scarcely fledged, at which time he kept up, I was told, an incessant 
“ squauking,” which is said to be the habit of young parrots, but when his voice 
“ broke ” he soon began to develop his imitative faculty, and at the time I saw 
him, when he would have been, 1 suppose, about seven months old, he was just be- 
ginning to talk. He seemed to find a difficulty, like most children when learning to 
talk do with regard to the letter “ s,” in producing the hissing sound of the “ z ” in 
his own name, but he would say “ Ulu ” quite distinctly. But the most remarkable 
thing about Zulu was his wonderful tameness and docility. A young lady of the 
household who usually attended to his wants could do almost anything she liked with 
him. When she wished him to return to his cage after his morning’s fly round the 
room, there was no “ enticing ” necessary, for she would take him up in her hands, 
clasping him round the body as she might have done any kitten, and carry him back 
to the door of his house. She would often take him upstairs, perched upon her 
shoulder, and he would quietly stand on the rail of the bed while the bed was 
being made. When on her shoulder he would often take hold of her ear in a 
playful way, or peck at her teeth, or pull the hairpins from her hair, &c. , &c. 
She would pul her finger into his mouth without the slightest hesitation. A 
stranger, however, who one day put his finger through the bars of the cage, 
received a rather sharp pinch. When let out of the cage anything bright or 
glistening, such as a thimble or pen, seemed at once to attract the attention of 
Zulu. A thimble was shown me with a hole right through the side of it — the 
work of Zulu — showing the power and strength of beak he then possessed, had 
he only a wish to display it upon the ear or finger of his attendant. One day he 
got upon the back of a pet pug dog, and another time walked over the cat while 
she lay stretched upon the floor asleep. One evening, after his flight round the 
room, he settled down upon ray shoulder, though I was a comparative stranger to 
him. 
A cotton reel was hung by a string to one of the wires of his cage, and to this 
he would cling and swing head dowmwards. Sometimes he would lie on his back 
at the bottom of the cage and claw and bite at the reel just as a young kitten 
might do, and if he could succeed in detaching it from the siring he appeared 
greatly delighted, and would carry it up to his perch in triumph, grasping it round 
with his hand-like foot, while endeavouring to pick it to pieces with his beak. 
