page_title: Emma Cecilia Thursby
section_title: Mynah bird
hierarchical_section_title: Emma Cecilia Thursby / Mynah bird
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Emma Cecilia Thursby with her Myna bird.
context_page_description: Emma Cecilia Thursby was an American singer popular in Europe and the United States.
context_section_description: Thursby also became well known for her Mynah bird which was alleged to have sung in five languages English, French, German, Malay, and Chinese. Skeptical investigator Joseph Rinn investigated the bird and confirmed the claim was true "I was dumbfounded, for the bird sang and took suggestions just as a human being would. There could be no doubt that he understood what was said to him, and he replied in a tone that sounded like a mezzo-soprano." According to Rinn the bird had also been taught to play the piano by Thursby. When Rinn was present in the room, the bird played Home, Sweet Home successfully by walking on the correct keys.
  After the bird died in 1899, medical societies from New York City requested permission to make an autopsy on the bird, and Thursby agreed. The autopsy was conducted by physician Henry Holbrook Curtis and veterinarian Frank H. Miller. They discovered that the bird had an extraordinarily large brain and this was responsible for the bird's great abilities.
caption: Portrait of Thursby with her Mynah bird.
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