The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-07-24
coN1IchI PARROTs.
son1e Good stories About POIiy-The
clever Bird Makes Plenty of
7Tfschfef


While a 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,
Let's have another bottle there's no one
here to know :" and then followed the ap-
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
fever about Christmas time, and his par
rot was removed from the dining-roOm to
the kitchen, where its voice was less like
" to disturb its master. 1t remained
there for several weeks. during which it
stole the raisins intended for plum-pud-
ding. The cook, in anger, threw some
hot grease at it, and scalded it's head.
When the gentleman got better the bird
was carried back to the dininR-room. Its
master approached with newly-shaved
head whereupon the parrot turned one
eye upon him, and slowly said, " You
bald-headed rufflan So you stole the
cooks plums, did you 2"
While the late Dean Stanley was a canon
at Canterbury, gentleman who had been
invited to breakfast with him found all
servants assembled In the garden and
gazing up at a 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 a slow
but distinct voice-exactly like the late
DEANS" Let us not pray" The bird
was eventually captured by the aid Of 3
fshingrod-
A grey parrot was stationed in q 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
a time, he set up a terrible cry-"The
baby the dear baby ~ All the family
rushed down to find the parrot, in a state
of the widest excitement, watching the
roasting of fa-sucking pig.
Dr. Karl Russ, in his recently blished
work, THE Speaking Parrots" tells Of a
grey, which was teased by a fat major,
whom it knew well, to climb stick
up on the stick, Polly-up on the stick -
cried the officer. The parrot suddenly
burst INTO loud laugh, and said, Up
with you on the stick, major
Everybody has heard of the parrot of
Henry ". which fell into the Thames
from window in the palace at Westmin-
ster, and called out, q" A crown for boat"
The waterman who rescued It claimed
crown accordingly; and the parrot, on be-
ing asked what he should be paid, is
stated to have replied, "Give the knave
groat"
DIR. Russ tells another curious story of
a grey which taught a young Amazon
parrot) 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, I" Have you any
money ?" to which the latter would reply
L, l,I. 81 g u IsH -,
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. It was
difficult to induce him to take food Often,
too. he would reawAken the grief of the
mourners by asking them, But where is
the lady, then -
A parrot has been known to live IN con-
fnement for twenty years without learn
ing a single word, though it afterwards
became an accomplished talker More
over, no two birds are exactly alike in tenn
permanent. One learns with difficulty. but
never forgets another picks up every
thing he hears, but remembers nothing
for 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,
and when It saw breakfast, said " Bake
cakes" and Give some to the parrot :"
while another, also mentioned by him,
could not utter it's own name until 1t had
been eight months with its owner, wInen
IL began to learn something every day
Ultimately it was taught to repeat verses.
and il 1t made mistake would say an
grily. You are no good :" but If it got
through its task without an error, it
would praise itself
DR.. Greene, who has lately published
book called Parrots in Captivity" " tells
of gray which goes through a long per
fcrmance In which speaking plays quite
secondary part; but when It is shut up IN
coal box, it initiates postman's knock,
and when you say, who's there - dis
tinctly replies. " Open the door for Polly"
And. combating Cuvier's opinion that
g these initiative and mechanical quail
ties are not to be attributed to superior
reason or sagacity," DR.. Greene In
stances the case of a cockatoo which was
never known to ask for potatoes except
when dinner was on the table, nor to say,
Oh, you're beauty" but to child.