Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-22

say something amusing and wear an express
sion Of gayety.
If she needs anything she calls her mis-
tress by her Christian name, "Marie," and
If the reply is long in coming her voice
gradually grows impatient and imperious
One winter day she was put in her cage,
near the FIRE A log rolled forward and
sprinkled her with ashes and sparks Her
mistress, busy in another room, heard her
crying, and calling MARIE" 'tMariel' like
a person in danger or in violent terror. She
ran to her aid.
When her noon meal. composed of three
or four dainties, is set before her my par
rot sets aside every day a little jam tart for
her supper. She does not like men. One
need only be of the feminine sex to touch
and caress her without danger She loves
her mistress devotedly. When I have been
away from home, and am returning toward
my house my parrot feels me through the
wall, and, although she cannot see me, she
warns her mistress of my return by singing
two notes, 'do-do," the second an octave
above the first. She does this in case of no
other person in the house. She bids me
good-day in the same manner whenever I
enter the room where she is. If 1 give her
something she thanks me by voice and
gesture, raising her wings
But my parrot shines, above all, in her
extraordinary gifts as musician and COM
poser. If she sees polka sung aud danced
she utters an accompaniment of notes deli
cately picked and in time, with the same
certainty as a player on trombone or a
bass violin. She improvises veritable pass
ages of music, which she whistles with end
less variations, never repeating herself in
her improvisations. She gives them with
taste, a style, an ardor to be envied by
pupil at the conservatory. She ends her
''pieces" on the keynote She improvises
before any chance hearer when her mistress
asks her to sing. When several persons
are listening she interrupts her strains
from time 70 time to utter peal of laugh
ter mingled with "oh's" to indicate that
she is pleased to be heard.
Before improvising she often preludes
with trilled runs and vocalises similar to
those practiced by singer to bring out her
voice before going on the stage From time
to time she pauses to clear her throat, to
swallow saliva, q movement accompanied
by dry click of the tongue against the
palate, so that the note of the fife may
issue more clearly-I should rather say, the
note of the flute, for we seem to hear q
flute, large, flexible and clear toned. The
low notes of this instrument are truly re-
markable.
When my parrot sings in faithful imita-
tion of the human voice, she often passes
from deep bass to the purest sopranos,
continuing the same air.
should not have dared to relate phe-
uomena of intelligence SO surprising in this
bird had not hundreds of persons witnessed
them during % years; and even yet, when
placed outside an open window in fine
weather, overlooking the street, my parrot
assemblies the passers-by of all ages, amazed
at the music she offers them.
/ have passed deeply interested moments
in studing this bird, whose intelligence
brings a new element to the solution Of the
problem which my friend, NJ the Marquis
of Nardaillac, in his remarkable study en-
titled Intelligence and Instinct" has e1-
pressed in the following words:
The reader may thus determine whether
Intelligence Is the real characteristic OF man;
whether it digs an abyss between him and
the animal, and whether there exists be-
tween different creatures only a difference
in degree; in other words, whether human
Intelligence differs in kind or only in Quan-
tity from that of other beings.
AUGUSTE NICAISE,
Member of the Anthropological Society and
Correspondent of the Ministry OF Public
Instruction.