Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-08-26

Tne Gray Derrer man the Green.


A gray parrot with red tail stood
on the top of his cage and loudly ex-
pressed desire for crackers, while the
bird fancier pointed to him and talked
to the customer.
"That's the bird for you, sir, he said.
"He knows as much as an ordinary
child already, and he's only year old.
Why, he can say anything that he hears,
and can bark like dog in addition"
Dog" repeated the parrot gravely:
''BOw-wow-wow.n
HE is an African parrot" the bird
fancier continued, ''as intelligent as
any ever saw"
A green parrot with yellow head
caught the eye of the customer, and he
sald he liked its appearance better than
that Of the gray parrot, and he bought
T.
s'I1e made a mistake" said the bird
fancier after the customer had gone.
"But always find it more profitable to
let people have their own way. Now
there is no comparison between these
two birds. The green parrot can't hold
a candle to the gray. III guarantee
that the gray one will learn anything.
don't care what it Is. He picks up
anything that he hears, and remembers
it too"
A little girl interrupted the bird-fan-
cier by asking for ten cents worth OF
bird seed.
''Give it to her quick" remarked the
gray parrot. Then he looked severely
at the little girl and said, "Mary Ann,
l'll tell your ma"
"African parrots" the bird-fancier
continued, after the girl had gone out,
''are the cleyerest of all the parrots, and
there are close to four hundred varie-
ties of them. Their memory is some
thing wonderful, and l don't believe
that they ever forget sentence once
learned. They can pronounce the
hardest words, not only in the English
language, but in other languages. An
African parrot learns very quickly, too,
and if you devote little time to him
every day you would be surprised to
see how quickly he would get along.
Some of them are very amusing at
times. l remember having sold
splendid bird to an old lady, who had
several daughters who were not very
early risers, and gave the good old lady
a great deal of trouble on that account.
About O'Clock every morning she used
to go to the foot of the stairway and
call, Maria, Louisa, Carrie, get up
The girls did not mind it very much,
and used to sleep on until 9 or lO
o'clock.
swell, after the old lady bought the
parrot, she hung its cage In the hall
way and, as the parrot was very tame,
the cage door was left open. The girls
said that it was a dear blrd,' and were
very much pleased with it indeed. They
fed it apples, and everything else they
had handy, and when they went TO
bed they confded to each other that the
new parrot was indeed pet AT
O'Clock the next morning the old lady
went to the foot of the stairs and called
the girls as usual. The gray parrot,
which had watched her with interest
and listened attentlvely to all she had
to say, thought he would try his hand
at calling the girls, after the old lady
had gone back to the dining room. So,
initiating her voice, he called:
"Maria, Louisa, Carrie, get up
''As they didn't ne thought they
might not have heard him, so he kept
on calling until the girls came down
stairs. After that he called them every
morning, and they couldn't sleep
wink after O'Clock, and the old lady
was as pleased as she could be. The
girls, however, got tired after while
of losing their morning maps. and so
one night before gong to bed they put
the parrot In his cage, shut the door,
and then put the cage down in the eel
lar. In the night the rats killed the
parrot, and the girls were glad, although
they said they were not.
lone of the strongest characteristics
of the African parrot is his jealous dis
position. He can't bear to see any at
tention shown to any other pet, and if
he does he often gets into rage. A
lady friend of mine had parrot of
which she thought the world, and she
used to feed it herself every day.
Well, when she got little son the baby
claimed a good deal of attention, and
the bird was neglected. He had not
and when she came into the room where
he was he was very glad indeed, and said
all thefriendly things he could remember
until he caught sight of the baby in the
lady's arms. Then he got very angry, J
and flew at the baby, and continued to .
do so every time he got chance. The
lady had to give the bird away.
The African parrot" the bird fan
cier went on, ''cOmes from the west
coast of Africa. The natives steal the
young ones from the nests and catch
the old ones in traps. They are bought
chiefly by the captains of trading YES
sells, who bring them to this country.
AS the trip Is long one, they learn
good deal from the sailors on the way
over, and often pick up a choice stock
of profanity while on shipbOard. The
parrots that come from Mexico are next
to the African parrots in intelligence.
They are green, with pale orange
forehead and scarlet tipped wings. They
are very tame, and readily learn to
sing. But although they are tame,
they are able TO take care of themselves.
A cat killed several song birds at my
house one night. There was parrot IN
the room, but he was all safe. The cat
came around after the parrot the next
night. L was awakened by hearing a
great noise. went down stairs. The
parrot was shouting Pretty Pol, Pretty
Pol'' struck light, and then saw the
parrot with his feathers all rufiled and
spattered with blood. He was all right,
though, and had put out the cats eye
with his beak.