38 
TALKING-BIRDS. 
species was, on the contrary, peculiarly attached to himself and indifferent 
to the caresses of his wife. 
We believe the very best way to teach all birds to speak i3 to keep quite 
out of sight while you are giving a lesson. "We know of nearly a dozen 
birds of various sorts who have been educated on this principle, and who in 
a miraculously short time have turned out fluent talkers. As we 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 gray 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. We 
were 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. Tins 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. 
We 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 rel¬ 
ish for meat, and we are sorry to say most parrot-keepers are nothing loth 
to gratify the propensity. 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. Desma- 
rest, 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 not argue the matter beyond 
this; brush out his house, and supply him with fresh mill-stones. 
Some little care is requisite in the preparation of bread and milk for a 
parrot. It must not be sloppy. Not the least particle of what is left of the 
