Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-10-06
CarniyOr0us Parrots.

The Australian farmers are suffering
from plague OF parrots. Until recent
ly the Australian parrot, like all other
parrots. was strictly graminiverous.
His Diet was purely vegetable, and he
was passionatelv fond of crackers. One
day hungry parrot tried tho expert
ment of eating little mutton, and was
delighted with it. He mentioned the
success of his experiment to other par
rots, who straightway initiated his ex-
ample and shared his delight. The re-
suit was that in the course of year
The Australian parrots wholly aban-
doned vegetable food and refused to
eat anything but mutton of their own
killing. At present the ilocks of Aus
tralian sheep are constantly attacked
bv swarms OF parrots who tear them in
pieces and devour them while yet alive.
The destruction thus caused is enor-
nous. The woods that once echoed
the familiar, .Polly wants a cracker"
are now vocal from morning till night
with the shrill exclamation. Polly
wants some mutton" and the Aus
tralian sheep farmers, saddened by
their losses, and maddened by the
shameless cries of thousands of par
rots, are devising ways of eXterminat-
ing their gaudy-ieathered enemies.
The persistence with which animals
usually cling to the habits of eating
practiced by their immediate ancestors
is very remarkable, but there Is no rea-
son to believe that because particular
animal has eaten particular variety of
food all its life its descendants must
necessarily inherit the same tastes. In
several instances animals have shown a
great fondness for novel articles of
food. For example, the cow in the
earliest ages was accustomed to eat
nothing but grass. She has since been
taught to eat what is technically called
"swill," and grows fat upon it. The
goat, when first domesticated, was also
strictly graminivorous, and although
goats were allowed to run free all over
Egypt in the days of its splendor, not
pyramid was gnawed or an Obelisk eat
en- by the goats of the period. AS every
one knows, the modern goat eats
nothing except underclothing and arti-
cles of tia or iron ware. There are sci
entific persons who maintain that the
goat in ancient times was accustomed
to eat underclOthing, and in support of
this view referred to the Tomb of I'ih at
Sakkara, where there is picture repre-
senting goat standing on his hind legs
and pulling Il pair of cardinal red stock
ings from a clothes line filled with shirts
and other garments. However
this may be-and the probabilities are
that the Sakkara picture represents an
exceptional and therefore famous goat
it is very certain that tomato cans and
hOop-skirts are of modern invention,
and hence that goats could not have
eaten them prior to the present CEN
tury.
We may boldly assume that while each
species of animals ordinarily eats what
its ancestors ate. there is no good rea-
son why this habit should be changed.
1t was probably mere accident which
led the original parrots to eat crackers
instead of meat, thus establishing a
custom which their descendants have
so long adhered to. The bill of the
parrot is a formidable combination of
a longshoreman's hook and a pruning
shears. Such a bill is manifestly
adapted for dissecting animals and
exploring their interiors in search
of livers and other desirable NOR
sells. The Australian parrots now
reveling in mutton ere probably eat
ing precisely the sort of food nature
designed them to eat when she gave
them their bills. The moment the idea