4 
Speech in Animals . 
[January, 
between young children and parrots. Talking birds, as far 
as we are aware, never speak in the first person. The 
parrot, addressed as “ Polly,” speaks of itself as “ Polly ” — 
that word being the symbol for its own personality. But 
this holds good of young children also. The child always 
accosted as “ Baby” speaks of itself as “ Baby,” using the 
third person instead of, as in after life, the first ; or, in 
other words, the child uses its own name instead of “ I ” 
or “ me.” 
There is yet a further similarity : a parrot, when trying to 
learn a new phrase, often blunders, especially about the last 
word or words. That of the present writer’s, above referred 
to, was lately studying the phrase “ Who’s a rogue ? ” For 
a couple of days she repeated “ Who’s a — Who’s a 
who — ? ” till at last the final word got fixed in her memory, 
and she ejaculated “ Who’s a rogue ? ” with great emphasis. 
Something closely alike is traced in young children when 
learning to talk ; they also bungle and break down over the 
latter portion of a phrase, and, when it is fully mastered, use 
it for a time both in and out of season. 
Thus it would appear that, as far as the use of language 
is concerned, the intellect of an African grey parrot is on a 
level with that of a child about eighteen months of age. 
We are often asked, ih reference to this point, Why does 
the child continue to acquire greater powers of language, to 
retain a greater number of words, and to combine them as 
occasion requires, whilst the parrot soon comes to the close 
of its literary education ? The answer, surely, is not far to 
seek : the child is descended from hundreds, perhaps thou- 
sands, of generations of talking animals, and inherits the 
gradually accumulated aptitudes of its forefathers. Merely, 
however, let us remember, the aptitudes, for the child brought 
up apart from human society does not inherit articulate 
speech. 
With the parrot the case is totally different : she inherits 
merely the tendency to scream and whistle, and, as far as 
language is concerned, she is a sheer parvenu who has risen 
by her own exertions, without any ancestral resources. 
We know of no case of an African grey parrot ( Psittacus 
erythacus) having reproduced its species in Europe.* Were 
this to be done the young birds would doubtless be feeble, 
and die out. But the experiment might be tried with this 
species, say at Madeira, or in seme locality not too inimical 
* A bird of this kind belonging to a contributor of the “ Journal of Science ’* 
laid two eggs last summer. 
