The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1885-10-08
COMICAl PARROTS.
soruu Good stories About Polly-The
Clever Bird Makes Plenty OF
yIIschfef

Clever BIRD Makes Plenty of
Mischief.
While newly-married couple were
away on their honeymoon, they left their
house In charge Of servants, On their re-
turn their parrot repeated several times,
Lets have another bottle; there's no one
here to know" and then followed the APP
propriate "plop, plop' and gurgle. How
the servants must have loved this clever
bird This story is quite true. So is the
following A Yorkshire gentleman had n
fever about Christmas time, and his par
rot was removed from the dinins-room to
the kitchen, where its voice was less like
ly to disturb its master. 1t remained
there for several weeks. during which It
stole the raisins intended for u plum-pud-
ding, The cook, in anger, threw some
hot grease Mt 1t, and scalded its head.
When the gentleman got better the bird
was carried back to the dining-room. Its
master approached with newly-shaved
head; whereupon the parrot turned one
eye upon him, and slowly said, You
bald-headed ruflian So you stole the
cooks plums, did you :"
While the late Dean Stanley was canon
at Canterbury, a gentleman who had been
invited to breakfast with him found all
servants assembled in the garden and
gazing up at laburnum in which their
masters parrot was at large, At that
moment out came the master. The par
rot looked down at him and said, in slow
but distinct voice-exactly like the late
dean's-"Let us not pray" The bird
was eventually captured by the aid of a
| fishing-roG.
A grey parrot was stationed in nurs-
cry, where his greatest delight was to see
the baby bathed. The child being attacked
by some 'lnfantile complaint, the parrot
was removed to the kitchen. There, after
II time, he set up terrible cry" The
baby! the dear babyr' All tho family
rushed down to find the parrot, In n state
| Of the widest excitement, watching the
roasting ofa-sucking pig.
DR.. Karl Russ, in his recently-published
work, THE Speaking Parrots" tells of ID
| grey, which was leased by fat major,
whom it knew well, to climb stick.
p on the stick, Poily-up on the stick p
cried the officer. The parrot suddenly
pNtSO INV u iOut. iuuSi, ooiN, ~
with you on the stick, major"
Everybody has heard of the parrot of
! Henry " which fell into the Thames
from window i'll the palace at Westmin-
ster, and called out, "A crown for boat"
| The waterman who rescued it claimed q
crown accordingly; and the parrot on be-
| ing asked what he should be paid, is
stated to have replied, "Give the knave n
groat"
DR.. Russ tells another curious story OF
a grey which Taught a young Amazon
| (Iarroti to talk. When the pupil did not
learn his words correctly. the grey would
say, Blockhead - and turn contemp-
tuously away. Eventually the grey and
| the Amazon were able to converse The
| former would say, "fIave you any
no.sey :" to which the latter would reply
| in doleful voice, No" Rosa (the grey
would then give the name of the emperor,
and Coco (the Amazon) would calculate,
Long life to him"
One grey is related to have mourned
| for his mistress when she died. 1t was
liilcult to induce him to take food Often,
| too, he would reawaken the grief of the
mourncrs by asking them, But where is
| the lady, Them?
a parrot has been known to live in con-
iinement for twenty years without learn
| ing single word, though it afterwards
became an accomplished talker More.
| over, no two birds are exactly alike in tenn
| pcrament One learns with difficulty, but
| never forgets; another picks up every
| Thing he hears, but remembers nothing
fol: more than few days Some few
learn readily, and retain what they have
| learnt. One bird, mentioned by DR.. Russ,
began to talk the very day that it arrived,
anu when it saw breakfast, said, Bake
| cakes" and "Give some to the parrot !"
| Willie another, also mentioned by him
could not utter its own name until 1t had
pecn eight months with its owner, when
ii Logan to learn something every day.
| Ultimately it was taught to repeat verses,
and if it made a mistake would say an
| grily. You are 10 good" but If 1t got
through its task without an error, it
would praise itself.
Dr. Greene, who has lately published a
book called " Parrots in Captivity" tells
of gray which goes through long per-
formance in which speaking plays quite q
secondary part; but when it is shut up in
a coal box, it initiates postman's knock,
and when you say, who's therep dis
tinctly replies. open the door for Polly
And, combating Cuvicr's opinion that
"thcse initiative and mechanical quail.
ties are not to be attributed to superior
reason or sagacity," DR.. Greene in
stances the case of cockatoo which was
never known TO ask for potatoes eXcep,
when dinner was on the table, nor to say
"Oh, you're II beauty" but to child.
Hon. VIM. A. Cromwell, Genera