THE RINGED RARRAKEET. 
379 
The individual from which the illustration is taken, is a very great favorite in the house 
where he belongs, being looked upon more in the light of a human being than a bird. Her 
birthday is scrupulously kept, and on that auspicious morning she is always presented with a 
sponge cake, which she eats daintly while sitting on the mantel-piece, chuckling to herself at 
intervals. She is a most affectionate little creature, and cannot bear that any of her especial 
friends should leave the room without bidding farewell ; and I once saw her set up such a 
screech because her mistress happened to go away without speaking to her, that she had to be 
taken out of her cage and comforted before she would settle quietly. 
Her owner has kindly pre- 
sented to me the following 
account of the bird 
“You ask me to tell you 
something about my little 
Polly. Perhaps the simplest 
plan will be to give a sketch 
of her history, premising that 
although I believe my little 
pet to be a male, still, as I 
love her so tenderly, I always 
use the feminine pronoun in 
speaking of and to her. 
“Polly’s birth-place was 
Trincomalee, and she was 
brought over to America by 
one of my wife’s sons, an 
officer in the navy, being ac- 
companied hither by a vast 
retinue of Parrakeets, almost 
all of which fell victims to the 
rough, cold weather which 
they had to encounter, to- 
gether with the change of 
climate. The poor birds liter- 
ally laid them down and died, 
the deck being strewn with 
their elegant forms. Polly, I 
am thankful to say, was 
blessed with an excellent con- 
stitution, and her nurse, a kind-hearted, weather-beaten sailor, loved her, and she lay in 
his bosom and was so kept warm and comfortable through the cold. 
“On Polly’s arrival at Portsmouth, her nurse, being obliged to attend to other matters, 
left her to her own resources in an old cage in which she usually slept, when her horizon was 
suddenly darkened by a cloud of bum-boat women from the shore, one of whom, seeing her 
defenceless situation, seized upon her, like Grlumdalclitch upon Gfulliver, and conveyed the 
delicate little creature to her coarse bosom. Fortunately for Polly, she uttered a little sound, 
which was heard by her nurse, who, seizing the woman by the shoulders, rescued Polly from 
the vile embrace. 
“After this contretemps , Polly was put into a rickety old cage, with two buns for her 
nourishment, and sent all by herself in the train to Washington. On her arrival there 
she was forwarded to a person who had formerly been confidential servant to my wife. One 
morning, this good person, hearing a great chattering down-stairs, looked in at her back- 
parlor door, and there, to her infinite surprise, she saw Polly seated upon the cat’s back, 
chattering away at no allowance, while pussy was majestically marching round the room. 
RINGED PARRAKEET . — PalcBomls torquatus. 
