INTRODUCTION. 
xii 
respect, while the Australian broad-tails come about midway between the 
other two families. The Australian Parrakeets will generally return to their 
mates, if the latter, whether male or female, be placed where they can see 
and hear each other, but the Long-tailed Indian Parrakeets, once they get 
out of their cages, simply fly straight away, like an arrow from a bow, 
rejoicing, no doubt, in their new-found freedom, and utterly oblivious, ap- 
parently, of the guid wife or the guid man at home. 
The Love-birds, too, have no idea of returning to their prison, and, once 
they escape, are very seldom seen again by their owners or their mates, 
to whom they really bear nothing like the affection with the possession of 
which they are popularly credited. 
The Grey Parrots, the large Green Parrots, commonly called Amazons, 
the Macaws, and the Cockatoos are the best homers, then come the beautiful 
Indian Lories, and the Australian Grass Parrakeets; all the remaining species 
of the race are not in this respect to be depended on; once their liberty 
is regained, death is by them preferred to a return to captivity, even when 
a former mate calls to and tries to entice them back again. 
We have often been asked which is the best way to teach one of these 
birds to speak, and have replied that there is no royal road: patience and 
perseverance alone will succeed, though some of them it must be admitted 
are much more ready learners than others: few of the hen birds, for instance, 
ever become accomplished linguists, although to this rule, as to every other, 
there are certain exceptions; but as, in the case of small birds, the gift 
of song is chiefly confined to the male, so in the Parrot tribe the capacity 
for learning to repeat articulate sounds is not usually the prerogative of the 
gentler sex. 
For a talker then, select a male, and repeat to him slowly and distinctly 
the word or sentence it is wished to teach him ; the bird will probably take 
it up word by word, not always beginning at the beginning, but occasionally 
in the middle of the phrase, as in the case of a Jardine Parrot belonging 
to the Hon. and Rev. F. G. Dutton, which was learning “Polly put the 
kettle on”, and began by repeating “kettle, kettle”, and gradually added 
the other words until it had learned to say the sentence correctly. 
Captive Parrots, poor things! are frequently the subjects of disease, too 
often induced by errors of management on the part of their owners, who, 
not knowing any better, pamper their pets with unsuitable dainties, and 
then wonder why their birds should be ill and die. Some of these complaints 
we have already touched upon, but there are others, such as consumption, 
