2/2 
THE PARROT. 
“ More clamorous than a parrot against rain.”— As You 
Like It , Act iv. Sc. i. 
It is not quite clear when parrots were first introduced 
as cage birds, but their attractive colours, and aptitude for 
learning tricks and words, no doubt brought them into 
notice at an early period. Shakespeare knew that to en¬ 
sure success in teaching a parrot, the bird must be 
rewarded :— 
“ The parrot will not do more for an almond.”— Troilus 
and Cressida , Act v. Sc. 2. 
To talk “ like a parrot,” that is, without reason, is pro¬ 
verbial. Lieutenant Cassio thus upbraids himself after a. 
drunken squabble :— 
“ I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good 
a commander with so slight, so drunken, and so discreet an 
officer. Drunk ? and speak parrot ? and squabble ? swag¬ 
ger ? swear and discourse fustian with one’s own shadow ? 
Oh, thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to 
be known by, let us call thee devil! ”— Othello , Act ii. 
Sc. 3. 
In a witty scene between Beatrice and Benedick, in 
Much Ado about Nothing, the former is likened by the latter 
to “ a parrot-teacher ,” from her great talkative powers :— 
“ Bened. But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, 
only you excepted : and I would I could find in my 
