1 Cockie." 
(.26) 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
Not Loved at Home. 
In his own country the Great Sulphur Crest 
is an outlaw, and is granted no protection, not 
even in the breeding season, on account of the 
terrible havoc he commits among the crops of 
maize, which he devours with equal gusto whe¬ 
ther it be freshly sown and sprouting or ripen¬ 
ing in the ear. He is a bird very commonly 
seen in England. Being beautiful, hardy, and 
long-lived, he is largely and frequently imported, 
and is therefore cheap. But the great number 
of these birds presented by their owners to the 
Zoological Gardens and other public institutions 
testifies to the fact that they are found to be 
too big and far too noisy to be kept as pets in 
private dwelling-houses. 
Cockie was never really my bird, though he 
lived in my house for over a year, and when I 
first saw him I thought that not even a white- 
robed angel could appear more glorious to look 
upon than this snowy beauty. However, I was 
not very long in discovering that if he did in¬ 
deed bear any relation to an angel it could only 
be to a fallen one, though for many weeks his 
doting mistress could see no fault in him, and 
would hear no word against him, so that I had 
to bear my sorrows in silence. 
Cockie began his misdeeds on the Sunday 
after his arrival. With his huge and powerful 
beak he forcibly bent apart the iron bars of 
his cage, and twisted and tore them out until 
he had made a space large enough to squeeze 
his great body through. Then, with a shriek, 
and a hideous burst of laughter, he flew round 
and round the room, finally alighting on the 
chandelier, from whence he sent down showers 
of black dust upon the spotless cloth and smok¬ 
ing joint. In vain we tried to remove him. 
“J’y suis, j’y reste,” he proclaimed with beak 
and claws. There was nothing for it but to 
wheel the dinner table through the folding 
doors into the next room, leaving Cockie in 
possession of his coign of vantage. 
At length a practised hand succeeded in catch¬ 
ing him, and in tethering him by the leg to 
a stand, and then, for a while, we had peace. 
Cockie preferred the stand to his old cage, and 
on it he performed the most wonderful gym¬ 
nastics and dances, spreading his great white 
wings and waltzing round as gracefully as any 
skirt dancer, or twirling head over heels round 
the perch with amazing rapidity. 
A Sense of Humour. 
It is a moot point whether parrots and their 
kind understand the meaning of the phrases 
they repeat. I have no doubt whatever that 
Cockie comprehended the drift of his remarks, 
and that he had a keen sense of humour. On 
one occasion, when an enthusiastic advocate of 
teetotalism had been holding forth to me for a 
somewhat lengthy period, and I had begun to 
fear that I should soon be unable any longer 
to stifle the yawn I felt imminent, Cockie, who, 
contrary to his usual custom, had been very still 
during the interview, suddenly called out, in 
tones clear and distinct as those of the human 
voice : “ Good-bye; I must be off now to the 
public-house—the public-house.” He repeated 
the last words twice over, so that there could 
be no shadow of doubt as to what he said. 
Never, before nor since, has he been known to 
pronounce those words. 
When the chimney caught fire in the room 
where Cockie’s cage stood, the roar of the 
draught, and the blazing masses of soot falling 
on to the tiled hearth, terrified Cockie, and he 
ran up and down his cage, calling out, “What’s 
the matter? What’s the matter? What is it 
all about? ” 
On another occasion I had had an urgent 
call to an outside case in the hours when I 
should have been found in my own consulting- 
room. On my return, my housekeeper— 
a kindly old soul, who had taken a warm inter¬ 
est in all my doings ever since the days of my 
early struggles—met me at the threshold with 
the good news that there were two new patients 
in the waiting-room. “ The lady came about 
half an hour ago, that’s her brougham oppo¬ 
site ; the gentleman drove up in a hansom ten 
minutes after.” 
“ 1 will see the lady at once,” I said, turning 
the knob and entering the room as I spoke. 
Libellous Cockie. 
A smartly-dressed lady was looking at a 
volume of “ Punch ” on the table, while an 
elderly clergyman sat with an air of fixed 
melancholy, gazing into the fire. At the noise 
of my entry Cockie faced round, and, instead of 
his usual greeting of “ Hulloa ! ” the malicious 
bird, inspired, as I cannot but believe, by the 
Evil One himself, announced in a voice of start¬ 
ling distinctness, ending with a diabolic chuc¬ 
kle, “They’ve been kissing. Ha, ha!” 
I stepped back hastily and closed the door. 
The Hon. Mrs. Howard’s Amazon Parrot " Polly.” 
