The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1890-03-08
POLL PARROTS.
SOME PRACTICAL HINTS ON
THEIR HABITS AND TRAINING.
How They Are Imported and Acch-
matized- for Want OF
Proper Carc-TcachinG
Them to Talk.

| month for want OF proper care. ana very
! few of the rest learn to talk. OF course all
| the parrots don't come from the lSthm4S or
| the coast towns where the steamers ctN
! But enough come from these points at a
| low tirurc to make it well worth while
! for Il man to undertake the business Of
| fraipino and acclmatiziug them. Nou
can get young parrot at Corento or
| Acapulco. or ut almost any Central
American port, for five pesos about 81
.hat will be worth from 90 to 500
When properly taught. It's easy enough
when YOU know the way.
"Some varieties are better than others.
are they not.'
YES, but practically any parrot can
be trained to talk ii youcommeace when
the bird is young There is Il common
but foolish notion that it il only the
male birds that talk As 4 matter of
fact there is no more difference in this
, respect than in the human species The
hen parrot can do her share of talking
about as Well as 4 woman'o rights adj
vocate.'
',Do the different kinds Of parrots re
quire different food:7
''Ccrtainlv, that Is one Of the s-crcts.
Let me describe to you here the kinds Of
parrot commonly met with in this coun-
try. OF course you know they are al!
| imported and acclimatizcd the bird
being strictly tropical in its natural
habitat The Mexican double yellow
head parrots are among the best birds
we get; they have better talking power,
greater sharpness i'll picking up words
and tricks, and a more pleasing human
like voice than the other varieties. They
! are also quick to become attached to
their owners, and TO make strangers feel
like strangers, which is one Of the chief
charms OF parrot for the average man
or woman. That's human nature, isn't
it2 If parrot will take to everybody
the owner has no use for it. This va
riety has another good quality: that Of
fearlessness. A Mexican double yellow
head parrot viii convince any cat in
about two minutes that distance lends
both enchantment and safety to the view.
As to what these birds can learn l will
only say that they have been taught to
initiate all the animals in the barnyard-
the rooster, the dog, the pigs. the pea
hens, the turkeys; they can be made to
repeat half a dozen letters of the alpha
bet correctly in succession, spell words,
and as to swearing-they will pick up
'cuss words as quick as any ten year-old
gamin in Tar Flat"
care these birds the ones which die
off so fast?"
''Yes, because they are the most SEN
sitive Of all parrots. They require spe-
cial care the first winter, and should be
kept warm and out of the draught.
Just here | will give you a pointer. Ii
you put IL monkey, an ant-eater, a par
rot or any tropical animal in a draught OF
air--as, for instance, by opening the
window in a room where fire is burn
ing-you are going to lose your pet. IT
will catch cold and die as surely as if
you had put it in a refrigerator car
''Then the imported parrots die of
cold?@
''Not all of them. Ii is not really cold
enough in San Francisco to kill parrot,
even on a cold. day, but draughts are
fatal, in summer and winter alike The
real trouble people have in raising parrots
is because they will not try to believe
that the birds viii get along much better
at first without drinking water If you
set vessel of water near a freshly i'm
ported parrot. however healthy, it will
drink itself to death; that's what |
mean.
Then you would give them no water
at all?"
s:Not exactly that. 4 little water may
be given to a young bird every day; say
one or two teaSpoonfuls. But the proof
that water is bad for Il green parrot, if
you let the bird feed itself, is shown by
the fact that parrot which has been
getting along finely for a whole week
without water, but with plenty of green
food, which contains all the water it re-
quires, will get dysentery or some other
trouble directly it is allowed to swill all
it wants"
'Parrots improve rapidly in value &C
cording to their talking powers, sup
pose'''
eyes, so much so that good talker is
worth 500 where a finer-looking bird
that cannot talk is only worth $40"
GLOW are they taught to TALK
''You must tame them first For in
stance, by giving them water lat a regu-
lar hour; instead of allowing them to
help themselves you will accustom them
to look for your presence and that is
everything. Then try placing cover
over the cage, to coniine the birds atten-
tion, and say a short word or sentence
every day till learned. Once the parrot
gets start at talking the trouble is to
keep the gift under control. The bird
has no knowledge of good and evil; it
will learn swear words just as easily as the
Others The best plan is to have stock
of words and use only these in the birds
hearing, always pitching them in par
ticular key so as to fix the attention.
"Apropos of the diseases of parrots: is
there any remedy for them
eyes, if not too far advanced Dys-
entery is very common; it Is cured by
cutting down the water supply, which is
generally the cause. Remember, once
for all, that it is only thoroughly tanned |
and acclimated green parrot which can
be trusted with water glass in its cage.
Cold is best dealt with by given the bird !
dose of warm rock candy, strong and |
sweet, or even a little rum punch. but |
coffee is bad. Very often a sick parrot |
may be cured of bad cold and dysen-
terry by putting teaspoonful Of paregor-
ic into the drinking water
"Do parrots breed in captivity:'