28 
THE PARROT TRIBES. 
educated on this principle, and who in a miraculously short time 
have turned out fluent talkers. As I have before observed, too 
much attention cannot be paid to the “ linking together ” of 
words forming any sentence you may wish them to learn. Let 
each word glide into the next as smoothly as possible. If you 
find that your bird experiences great difficulty in repeating a 
particular lesson, you had better not persist in teaching it at 
that time, as you may make him sullen or irritable. 
The staple diet of the grey parrot, and indeed of every other 
sort, should be bread and milk. Parrot-fanciers cut a stale 
loaf into slices, lay it in a pan, and cover it with warm water. 
After it has soaked for a quarter of an hour, it is taken out, 
and squeezed as dry as possible. Then, enough of scalding 
milk is poured over it to moisten it without making it pappy. 
I was inclined to think that the first soaking in water was a 
mere economic trick to save milk, but it appears that a 
“ mash ” thus made will keep sweet much longer than that 
prepared entirely with milk. This food, however, may be varied 
very considerably. You may give them any sort of nuts or 
almonds (except of course the bitter kind), biscuit (without seed), 
cold boiled Indian corn, and almost any sort of fruit. 
I have heard many persons complain that their parrots pluck 
out their feathers, giving themselves an -unsightly appearance. 
The reason is simply this, — they are allowed to eat animal food. 
Most parrots have a great relish for meat, and I am sorry to 
say most parrot-keepers are nothing loth to gratify the pro- 
pensity. After a while the birds acquire so determined an 
appetite for this sort of food, that they pluck out their own 
feathers for the sole purpose of sucking the stems. Instances 
have been known of parrots stripping themselves of every feather 
within reach of their beaks. Desmarest, the French naturalist, 
states, that he once saw a parrot who had plucked its body as 
clean as a chicken prepared for the spit. Yet during two very 
severe winters, this bird never ailed in the least, and always 
had a capital appetite and good spirits. 
It should always be borne in mind that a bird’s gizzard is 
to it what teeth are to us, and further, that the said machine 
can no more act unless attended to, than a mill can grind without 
mill-stones. Clean, coarsely-sifted dry gravel should be supplied 
to the bird at least three times a week. Do not be tempted to 
neglect this replenishing because the parrot “ has plenty of 
gravel ” in its cage. It may have plenty, but you must allow 
him to be the better judge as to whether it is suitable. Do 
