Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-12-02

rots in q state of nature do not build
nests. but lay their eggs and rear their
young in holes and hollows of trees.
Another point worth considering is
that parrots hatched and raised In the
greenhouse would begin to learn 10
talk from earliest infancy. so to speak
When mere nestlings their instruction
would begln-their course OF teaching
being aided. perhaps, by the use of the
| phonograDh. This matter OF begin
ming language lessons young is of ut
most importance with parrots mas
| much IS they are never able to acquire
much conversational facility later III
| life
Again, there would be a great advan-
tage in the opportunity AFFORDED for
| picking out the best takers through
| series of generations. choosing only
| such selected specimens for mating. In
| this way 1t might be practicable to de-
| velop a strain of takers far superior to
any parrots hitherto known.
| Much might even be accomplished by
| such means with those interesting
! members OF the parrot family which
| we call macaws and cockatoos. The
| latter which are exclusively AustraI-
! lam are not usually good takers. bus
| now and then one of them exhibits a
| remarkable facility of speech. To mn-
| caws the same remark applies. These
uuBc ana Bduuy-cOlOreu pdiIotS ucloHS
to the tropics of America. and were
tanned and kept in captivity by ma
| tives of Mexico and Brazil centuries be-
fore Columbus landed. Certain trees in
which they built their nests were rec
ognized as family property and handed
down from father to son Even to-
day their feathers arc valuable as an
article of commerce and are sold tc
white traders who voyage up the ANA
zon and its tributaries or through the
wide reaches OF the Orinoco
A monkey could undoubtedly talk If
ii possessed the requisite brains. Why
not, indeed inasmuch as 1t has organs
of speech aDatomica1ly like those of
man? With parrots. by a curious para
doN. the case Is somewhat opposite.
They are able to talk. and yet are not
provided by nature with a vocal equip
ment in any way similar to that of
human beings. They have merely
peculiar throat organ, called a "syrinx,'
by the use of which they can initiate
all kinds of sounds with singular ac-
curacy,
Thus the gray African parrot with a
red tail. which is far superior as
mimic to any other breed. Is able TO
initiate quite wonderfully a dogs bark.
a whistle, the clucking of hen. or
almost any other sound. It's laugh Is
sometimes SO human as to he posi-
lively weird AS a talker, also, 1t Is
superior even to the famous double
yellow head" from Mexico Its voice
is more human-like and less harsh and
strldent
Practically all these gray parrots
come from Liberia, where the natives
make n business of catching and tam
ing them for subsequent barter. At the
mating season whole villages become
temporarily depopulated, men, women
oh I'm
the task of hunting for nests They
take the birds from the nests before
they are fairly fledged and fetch them
home in, baskets, a method OF feeding
them commonly adopted being TO allow
them to take corn, chewed to pulp
from the mouth. With the precauton
of clipping one wing. they arc permit
ted to have as much freedom as il
they were poultry. At the proper
time Of year the villages are literally
full of them, Presently a white trader
comes along. bargains for the whole
lot. and, pays for them with guns, am
munition calico. or other merchandise.
shipping them thereupop to Europe in
rudely constructed cages OF African
manufacture.
All the gray African parrots that
reach this country are imported by way
of Europe. The double yellowheads"
are mostly shipped from the Mexican
port OF Tampico. They are green, with
two head-tufts of brilliant yellow. To
capture them long journeys must be
made into the forests of the interior,
the hunter usually taking with him
half a dozen "peonS" and perhaps an
equal number OF burros. 1t is the bust
ness of the poems to climb the trees-a
part OF the job which no white man
would care to undertake. inasmuch as
this kind OF work is attended with
much suffering and no little danger
1t is in the state of Tamaulipas tnat
the double yellow heads" are most
numerous. They are found there In
flocks almost every tree in the near
neighborhood of streams having. one or
more nests. Usually the nests arc To-
Gated by peculiar clucking and chuck
ling noise which the parent bird utters.
and which is answered by the young.
The latter, when taken from the nests,
arc quite tame. and do not seem to be
conscious of loss of liberty, A large
number OF them may be kept together
under a mere roof OF woven cane. which
affords the shade they require. Mean
while they are fed on corn reduced to
a pulp by mashing the grain with
stone, and when the expedition is ready
to move they are put In cages of cane
and wire, made by the poems, and
strapped on the backs of the burros.
Then II ls merely a question OF convey
ing them to the nearest river and for
warding them by water to a convenient
seaport, whence they are shipped to the
United States or to other parts of the
world.
The cheapest and most common par
rots In our market are from Cuba, They
are smaller than tho double yellow
heads" and entirely green. Often they
arc very fair takers.
Under such conditions as those easily
provided In a greenhouse, with plenty
of shade, parrots will mate and lay
their eggs just as they do In their ma
tive forests The female, by the way,
customarily sits on the eggs from 4
o'clock in the afternoon until o'clock
in the morning, the male relieving her
for the balance of the "a hours.
The best way to instruct an individ-
ual parrot, where no talking machine is
at hand, is TO take il into a silent room,
and repeat word or phrase over and
over In it's presence. At the time it may
seem to learn nothing. but few days
later, I'm all likelihood. it will suddenly
uftcr fhc nhra M. word DGrh9nS in n