Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-25
THE PARROT REASONS
No Longer Possible to Draw the Line
at Instinct in Animals.
PRETTY POLLY ISN'T A FEMALE,
Natures Arrangement by Which the Birds
Can Sleep Standing.
WATCHING TIE FORMATION OF ICE
WRITTEN FOE THE DISPATCH,

As late as half o century ago it was hardly
safe to claim that any animal below the
level OF man was endowed with reasoning
faculties. What we call intelligence in man
was only instinct in the brute. Probably
majority of people in our day believe that
there is an impossible gulf between the in,
telligence OF mankind and the instinct of the
bird or the beast. But within three feet Of
the hand that is writing these lines there is
little animal that will be of voting age next
autumn (21 years., and that has more intel
ligence than many voter that you will see
about the polls on election day.
It is a handsome yellow-head Mexican
parrot. He is sitting demurely on the
swing at the top of his cage watching the
movement of the pen. and occasionally
looking up. quizzically at the writer's face
as If to ask, Are you writing anything
about me?" If you want a test of bird in
tellect, give Paul Che spells it P-a-oo-D a
bit of cracker that has been quickly dipped
in coffee. He will first politely say "Thank
you," then he will take the cracker in one
OF his foot-hands and leisurely eat the out.
side portion, which has been soitened By the
coffee. Then he will stop. He doesn't eat
hard cracker, and SO he will moisten this
piece by putting it in his water cup. But
how can he do it? He cannot get from his
swing to the cup, eight inches below, with
out climbing down the side OF the cage,
which necessitates the use of both his beak
and his hand-feet. He has neither pocket
nor hat in which to store the cracker, and
he can't drop it into the cup because he is
in the top center of the cage, while the cup
is below at the side. But Paul knows how
to do 1t. He drops the cracker to the bot
tom. then reaches the side of the cage with
his beak, climbs down, and soon has the
m0rsel in his mouth again. He then can
easily Chamber up to the water cup,in which
he drops the cracker and eats it when it is
softened enough to suit his taste.
Polly Isn't Female.
Don't use the feminine gender in speaking
OF a parrot that you have seen. 1t is e1-
tremely unlikely that you ever saw a female
parrot. The females are not nearly so hand
some as the males, their vocal ability is
only on a par with that of the female
canary birds, and they don't breed in our
climate. Hence they are not imported.
You see, then, that it is misnomer to call
your parrot "Polly." The first parrot seen
in England was brought there by sailor
who, knowing nothing about the birds sex,
named it Polly in honor of his sweetheart
and has led most people TO speak of the
parrots we see as if they were females. And
don't make the greater blunder of saying
"poil parrot" unless you have some reason
Tor particularizing the fact that you are
talking about bird that has not been BE-
headed. Poll simply means mead.
OF all the thousands of species of birds
there are only three that car climb,
and the parrots are the only one
of the three that use the
beak in climbing. There is a species of
small parrot that is found in the southern
portion of the United States, but these birds
are yearly growing more rare and no doubt
they will soon be extinct. The only climb
ing bird that is "natiye and to the manner
born" of our country Is the woodpecker, one
of the three species of climbers have men,
toned These beautiful, intelligent and
harmless birds are annually slaughtered IN
great numbers by thoughtless or brutal
gunners, and they, too, will be extinct in
the United States ere many years unless
their lives are protected by stringent laws
against their slayers. The woodpecker's
beak, unlike the parrots. Is a long and
sharp instrument which serves the bird as
sort of combination auger. chisel and
Ratchet. With this it strikes blow that in
the still woods can be heard half a mile
away. 1t makes hole in a decayed tree in
search OF worms, and then introduces its
long tongue, which has a glutinous sub
stance on the end and transfers the squirm-
ing prey to its mouth,
Birds Sleep Standing.
Have you ever wondered how a bird can
be constantly on its feet without tiring its
legs, or without falling when it sleeps? The
legs of canary bird, for example, are but
little thicker than a knitting needle, yet the
little creature hops about on them all day
without apparent weariness, and sleeps
Standing" without danger of tumbling from
its perch.
Here is the explanations: In front of the
bird S thigh bone there is large and very
strong muscle, with long tendon, or cord,
extending down the leg to the foot, where it
divides into branches and goes out to the
ends of the toes. Now, when the bird is
still its weight causes pulling movement
on the big muscle: this contraction is COM
municated all the wav down to the toes, and
the latter are therefore drawn up tightly
around the perch. By this queer arrange
ment the birds claws cling involuntarily to
the perch while it sleeps. You can demon
strate this with the severed leg of q fowl.
Pull the tendon of the leg and the claws
will close just as they naturally do under
the birds own weight.
How Ice Is Formed.
A person who has never closely observed
the operation of natures great ice factory
will be surprised to find how interesting it is.
You need not go outside of a comfortably
heated room to do this. Just place pan of
water on the window sill, when the tempera-
ture is below the freezing point, and you
will soon see something that cannot fail to
interest you. If you happen to have
magnifying glass, single lens, so much the
better, for the magnifying power will reveal
much of the delicate work of ice making
that is invisible TO the naked eye.
Anyway, as you closely watch the surface
of the water you will soon see tiny little
lances, very beautiful when seen under the
microscope, shooting bither and thither on
the surface of the water. If it is cold
enough to make ice in the sunlight the crvs-
tai lauces will glow with all the colors of
the rainbow, and as they dart about the
rapid changes of color will remind you of
the wonders of the kaleidoscope As the
water continues to chill the little lances
come together, and then smaller and still
more delicate crystals will be seen forming
between the lances and Welding them to-
gether. This process goes ON until the sur
face is covered with a beautiful film of ice
hardly strong enough to bear the weight OF
a mosquito. But the process goes on under
this superficial layer, and smooth and solid
surface is the result.
Water is affected by changes of tempera-
ture differently from all other. LIQUIDS. 1t
seems to be natural law for all LIQUIDS to
expand in proportion to their increase in
temperature, but there is strange exception
to the rule in the case of water. For ex-
ample take a quantity of water when ex-
actly at the freezing point, 800 above zero,
- Al