The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911, 1908-04-29
CANARY CAN TALK
REMARKABLE BIRD OWNED ~
session MAN.
Sound % q Broom Over the Floor IN.
cites Little Son9stsr 20 Speech
Has . Comparatively
Large Vocabulary.

One day In August of last summer.
as Prof. Underwood was journeying
into the interior Of New Brunswick on
q 72-mile drive with Mrs. Underwood.
the native driver who was with him
told . tale Of canary VINO could talk.
says the Boston Transcript. This
amused Prof. Underwood, for he
thought 1t another Of the stories o.
the same nature which are found to
be untrue when traced to their
source.
The driver. however, was not re-
peating rumors that he had heard, but
stating facts, for the canary he re-
ferred to was the property Of his aunt.
To prove the truth Of what he had
said he offered to show the bird.
Prof. Underwood says Of his first
hearing the canary talk. that 1t was
while he was inside the house where
1t was owned that he heard it say:
kiss me, sweet little Becky. dear !"
The bird was hanging In its cage out
side the door. and for the time being
Prof. Underwood had forgotten about
the fact that he was to hear . talking
canafy. He wondered what manner
Of bird It was that Vas talking thus.
and went outside to escape the noise
Of the sweeping which happened to be
the occupation Of his hostess for the
moment. OF course. 1t dawned on him
Immediately that what he had heard
was the canary Of his driver friend.
And then 1t said: Sweet bird"
kiss me. Becky" and kiss me.
DEAR" and other combinations Of the
words 1t had first used. It did not
speak with the hard tone of q parrot.
but in . sweetly musical way that was
almost part Of its song.
The little fellow learned to talk
quite by accident. He was not bred
to 1t. and as far a. anyone knows was
born and raised In this country. Of
the usual common household variety
Of canary antecedents. eight years
ago. 1t was while the woman who
owned him was sweeping about her
home one day that she first noticed
that he could talk. She had been in
the habit Of speaking to him as she
did her Homework and probably had
spoken to him more often than q city
housewife would because Of the isola-
ton Of the place, located ~ 1t was in
the backwoods.
And because he has learned to talk
With the broom swishing about the
door this little canary now refuses to
talk unless some one Is sweeping. All
that II necessary to start him Is the
sound Of . broom over the floor. It
seems to arouse such thrills in his
little heart that he Just cannot help
talking. And he does 20 even under
the most trying conditions. a. the
following will illustrate:
The New Brunswick owner Of the
bird had brought him to Boston from
Plaster Rock. long. hard trip for
canary bird. Prof. Underwood met
him shortly after his arrival, by &C
cident. and invited him to visit his Of
fee In the Pierce building. Trinity
place. The man accepted. A broom
was secured and q vigorous sweeping
commenced. Even with the paper
still covering the cage and notwith-
standing the fatigue of q long jour-
ney from Plaster Rock. the little fel-
low Immediately started to talk in
his musical voice.
Only one other instance of a canary
which has had the power Of speech
Is given much credence by naturalists
and that bird lived 30 many centu-
ries ago that the facts are shrouded
In mystery. 1t is said that an early
king of England once made q royal
progress to the north of Scotland for
the purpose Of hearing ? canary say:
pretty Peter" It has never, how
ever been claimed for any other Ca
nary that has been attributed with
speech that 1t spoke more than two
words. and this little fellow has .