Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-05-21

BABY BIRDS AND THEIR ELDERS OF VARIOUS
DISPOSITIONS AND CAPACITIES.

DABY BIRDS AND THEIR ELDERS OF VARIOUS
DISPOSITIONS AND CAPACITIES.
The baby parrot melody is pervading.
One can initiate it by seraping a stove
pine with a caseknife on cold mornings.
A baby parrot is the beginning of an old
parrot. 1t makes an unearthly Stock
Exchange noise until fifteen months old,
then it assumes an air of gravity and
talks and swears. As parrots live from
eighty to one hundred years they have
pleuty of time TO repent. A cheap I'M
educated parrot il worth from so to Sl5,
but professional talkers-those hardened
sinners that do everything naughty ex-
cept chewing tobacco-bring from S175 to
5000. These are the gray ashen colored
birds found on the West Coast of Africa
in the Senegal country. Negroes catch
thcm'in ne,s and sell them TO sailors and
CAPTAINS, who bring them to this country
in large numbers. The corrupt language
which many parrots use has been taught
them bv sailors on board the ship.
As rule they are deceitful, treacher-
ous and yindictive They will reraem-
ber an injury for years and their bill has
the strength of pair Of gas tongs to i'll
ilict rsribution. When angry they Will
pick off a mans finger nails as though
they were sugar plums. They are not
happy unless initiating some noise.
Tier home is in the great forests of
Equatorial Africa, where monkeys, tigers,
lions boa constructors roam at large, and
it Is not uncommon in that land to hear
sounds that would frighten book agent
10 death in ten minutes As there are no
white people to annoy, the parrots mock
the ANIMALS, and all day long the cathe-
dral-like sulitudcs echo with the wild
roar of beasts. \ hundred parrots will
crv in chorus like hyenas, then another
hundred will howl like tigers, then the
trees seem to he filed with lions and
leopar,ls. and the tumult is so terrible
that many Of the real beasts run away in
fear, while scores of elephants fling aloft
their trunks and tear branches from the
trees, SO great is their rage, and the ser
nants glide through the forests at fright
ful speed. filling the air wish misses
ana poisonous vapors-all of which gives
pleasure t" the parrots that are hidden
aways in the trees. The parrot trainers
say that they can teach them only one
language at time, and that the custom
of splitting their tongues in three pieces
t, make them talk three languages at
speakes of green parrots beng So nuner-
ous in the forests of the Amazon as to
break down trees with their weight and
tp drown the roaring of waterfalls with
their iucessant cries. This prevents the
lonely traveller from becoming mclan
clolv The Romans were So fond Of par
rots that they kept them in silver and
tortoise shell cages. and imperial trainers
taught them 10 hurrah for Cesar, so that
they brought more money than slaves.
The dOuble-bcadedy yellow parrots which
live in Mexico are easily tanned. The
African birds only talk, while these par
rots sing songs, speak Spanish and whistle
and swear like pirates. Then there are
parrots from Australia, India, Ceylon,
Cuba and Florida. Some never progress
beyond speaking n few words, others
whistle respectfully and squawk with II
foreign accent. South American macaws
are used for decorating lawns. They are
two feet long, ana they will roost all day
ON a horizontal bar, and give beauty and
tone to first class door yard which stone
dogs and cast iron Nenuses can never
impart They are intellectual and talk
atiye. and they learn tricks ms fast as a boy
can steal waternclons. Sometimes the
Spanish birds will be demure as doves
for days, while ladies' are around, but the
moment negro appears they will swcai
at him and call him names until the mas
ter comes along and rcbukes them with &
club.