The Red Cloud chief., 1882-09-15

& II 10 - hopcd gvs The bird LII
fact" sad the old bird-fsneics. moth
ing wsuid b. easier. in COR line. thas
20 supply h~r With any r~asoaabi<
quantity at parrots speaking . grcs'
deal al Spanish II p.rros has sns
ether mosber tesgue Than "a isfeuaI
sqaask. that mo;her-soague s spanish.
NJ least witb those thai come hero fron,
south America. which Is our maia
source OF supply. Il 10. you seder'
stand. the language at iAs people uks
capture the bird and give 10 The rsdi-
menis Of ssiucasson- Very nssorAlly.
the hrSt words . parrot learns from
them arc likely Co be .bosiio psp.esyo
and 'c.r,m5s.' just ~. II En~glssh-speat.
ing people got him hrst. be uouid besia
by saving Pretty Polly and some e.
miiiar and probably more si<oross
words than those Spanish ones. Span.
ish safhs. By the ~ay. don'i amount Ga
much. as . rule. any more than the
Preach sacrc ponne de terrc or the
German 'donner und blitx.n.' DO, the
noble Castiliaa tongue Is no, altogether
devoid 81 ingenious csple,ives. Some
OF them are strong enough 10 curl the
hair Of = nInlc. and not infrcquentiy We
get parrots tha; have had their rom
vc~rsa;ionai powers developed In that
direction Ia = startling extent. IL
doesn', hurt the value Il the bird fog
people who don't understand Spanish.
They may innocen,ly imagine IL his
wiid. sweet. native sosg when he 10
making the most frightfully ornate re.
marks about their lights and livers aud
things. and no harm is done. by
and by. too, he will learn the language
OF the people he Is with. aud no, hear
Ing Spanish spoken about HIM. will
gradually drop IL Ii IL open 10 doab,.
however. whether q parro, ever wholly
forgets wha, he has once leamcd-a
really good one ! mean. Several
months ago a gentleman who was go-
ing abroad. ne; expecting % return for
two or three years, left with ME- for
sale n very lne parro, thar. he said. b.
had had for ovcr hive years, The bird
spoke English extraordinary well and.
as he subsequently assured me. he
never knew that lie spoke an, thing
else. IS he had bought IL from an En-.
eiish lady. who had not told him tina,
he knew any other language. Bu;
while he was here n couple Ut ladies'
entered the store one day and, while
looking about were chatiering IN Span.
ish to each other when they were star
tied by the exclamation. in 4 loud zone
Of surprise. 'Carambal' IL wxs the
parrot. They talked To it in Spanish.
For some little time IL either could not
or would not say anything but Car
amba! and always with the proper in
tonation rs an exclamation ot astonish-
ment. At length. however. its memory
came back, and j, began ntiering a
variety Of Spanish words with great vol
utility. The ladies assured me that IL
spoke Spanish exceedingly well. and
was-what was still more remarkable
y very decent bird. with good moral
training. One Of them bought il and
paid me = good price for ii. A parrot
learns very quickly. IL il is going 10
learn At all. One that speaks Spanish
only when il leaves South America will
pick up n great deal Of English in tho
course Of . trip Of three Of four weeks
BY y sailing vessel To this port: and as
parrots are generally brought here by
sailors whose habits OF speech, are, to
w ~ tuC tcNSt, ~ itlDstiitut,
poor Polly Is likely 10 have q good
many undesirable words in her vocab-
ulary when she goes into American good
society.
"Some Of the fine gray parrots that
come here from Africa speak Portuguese
1uently. that being the language Of the
people who captured them: and oc-
casiOnally we strike one that jabbers
gibberish that nobody understands,
doubtless some negro talk. Green par
rots from Brazil also speak Portuguese.
Minos are the same as parrots. talking
any language that is about them. Most
people have q mistaken idea about the
mino. that he simply fires OF n shrek
ike q steam-whistic every FIVE minutes
or 10. Bat that Is wrong. He can he
taught TO talk. and very well. too. even
better than mos, parrots. Parrots learn
German and French, ". indeed, any
language. the same as they do English; !
but the birds that attain those accom-
plishments gain them from private |
owners, who value them ~ pupils, as !
well rs pets. and they seldom get into
hands. except by accident. I was
aboard an outgoing French steamer. re-
Gently, IN business. just before she left
the dock. and noticed on the deck an
elderly French woman n of n party |
who was manifesiing great so!citude
about n parrot that she had in = cage. I
Il was hard to tell which one Of them
was chattering French most vigorously, |
she or the bird. l don't suppose she !
would have taken 500 for tina; French
speaking parrot. which was intrinsicslly
worth about Sl5. don't know that I
have eve encountered q German par
rot, but | have heard Of them and know
they exist"
Another bird-fancier. a German, said
upon that branch Of the subject: Ger
parrotss Bless me! yes; lots OF
them. But I can hardly say that the
parrot seems 10 be specially adapted 10
speaking German Il Is rather too
heavy for his tongue. and as . rule he
only takes in the shorter and easier
words. and not . great many Of them
then. lie would have to he q very
bold parrot who would undertake TO
swear in German. One Of the best
parrots | ever met
was owned By Dombrowski, the Ger
man actor who came over here a dozen
years ago to support the great Nine.
Seebacb. IL was q viliaincusiy maiiri-
ous bird toward everybody except him.
bat he had spent much time In pesfing
and training Il. ald with surprisisxiy I
good results. He carried Il about with
him in all his travels. brought it here
Iron Germany. luxRcd Il around from
place 70 place, and hnAlly took it back
With him. don't think il woald be
1iflcult for me, at any time. 10 end for
} customer q German or . French
Ipeaking Parros--not. IT course, . per-
lecslJ educated one. but one that could
peak . little OF either language Il h
los seldom that . parrot ksows . good
na1y words cut of two OF thses Ian.
Iuages bas 10 likely 10 get them mixed
p h his talking"
Il i no loager . matter Tor questioa
hat parrots y least serm very oftsn %
NOV the meaning Of the words they
Ne. aud apply them inseliigensiy. sp-
d Whatever laaGuage they /,
'psak- Poos visEisia whisiag. WHOSE
Deiee and brilliant career was ihas 81
- = 0mP 80 1~five ursna doooaa