Parrot

“ The parrot, in particular, has developed for the purpose his curved and inflated beak—a wonderful weapon, keen as a tailor’s scissors, and moved by powerful muscles on both sides of the face which bring together the cutting edges with extraordinary energy. The way the bird holds a fruit gingerly in one claw, while he strips off the rind dexterously with his under-hung lower mandible, and keeps a sharp look-out meanwhile for a possible intruder, suggests to the observing mind the whole living drama of his native forest. ”

“ One day, a friend who was going away for a short time, brought me his parrot to be taken care of during his absence. The bird, finding itself in a strange place, climbed up to the top of its perch by the aid of its beak, and rolled its eyes (as yellow as the nails in my arm-chair) in a rather frightened manner, moving also the white membranes that formed its eyelids. 'Madame Théophile' had never seen a parrot before, and she regarded the creature with manifest surprise. ”

“ To open your eyes suddenly and stare into the inscrutable face of a parrot who is sitting only about a foot from you, and apparently wondering which is the softest spot to dig in his falcon-like beak, is most uncanny. ”

“ The old parrot and another parrot then spread their wings, on which the Rajah seated himself as on a chair, and rising up in the air, they flew away with him out of sight.
Far, far, far they flew, as fast as parrots can fly, over hills, over forests, over rivers, over valleys, on, on, on, hour after hour, day after day, week after week, only staying to rest every night when it got too dark to see where they were going. At last they reached the seven seas which surrounded the Panch-Phul Ranee’s country. ”

“ The parrot is green from the roots of its feathers to their very tips, save only for the markings on the neck. For its tiny neck is girdled and crowned with a slender band of crimson like a collar of gold, which is of equal brilliance through all its extent. Its beak is extraordinarily hard. If after it has soared to a great height it swoops headlong on to some rock, it breaks the force of its fall with its beak, which it uses as an anchor. Its head is not less hard than its beak. ”

“ How every thing brightened under the heavenly, glorifying touch! The wreaths of artificial flowers took the bright hues of life; and a gray parrot, in a battered cage, shook himself to peer about more cheerfully. ”

“ Can’t be mentioned in these verses; till, at length, my heartfelt curses
Gave I to this cruel parrot, who quite coolly scanned me o’er—
Wicked, wretched, cruel parrot, who quite coolly scanned me o’er,
Laughed, drew several corks, and swore.
“Parrot!” said I, “bird of evil! parrot still, or bird or devil!
By the piper who the Israelitish leader played before,
I will stand this chaff no longer! We will see now which is stronger.
Come, now,—off! Thy cage is open—free thou art, and there’s the door!
Off at once, and I’ll forgive thee;—take the hint, and leave my door.” ”

“ And hearing the parrot, did say,
"What ails you, what ails you, my pretty parrot,
That you prattle so long before day?"
"It's no laughing matter," the parrot did say,
"That so loudly I call unto thee,
For the cats have got into the window so high,
And I'm afraid they will have me."
"Well turned, well turned, my pretty parrot,
Well turned, well turned for me;
Thy cage shall be made of the glittering gold,
And the door of the best ivory."
F: The False Knight Outwitted ”

“ To the parrot family belong the parrakeets, cockatoos, macaws, and lories. These are all birds of hot countries.
Nothing can exceed the splendor of the plumage of [Pg 232] these birds. Red, lemon, green, scarlet, blue, white, and a mixture of these colors, will be found upon them. Many of them have brilliant crests, and many of them long gay tail feathers.
The head and bill of the parrot are large. While their bill tells us what kind of food they live on, and their feet show that they can climb, their long strong wings show that they are birds of flight.
Parrots are social birds. ”

“ As the parrot is the larger bird and of more ancient fame, we will speak of him first. Parrots have been favorite cage birds for many hundred years. They are notable for size, splendor of plumage, docility, long life, and power of learning to speak.
Like the woodpecker, the parrot belongs to the division of climbing birds. The feet of climbing birds have two toes turned forward, and two turned backward. ”

“ First, we longed for this bird, then for that squirrel, then for a cage of white mice, and so on; indeed I believe we quite tormented Mamma with requests to walk along the quay of animals, as we called it. At last we set our affections upon a grey parrot, the smoothest and handsomest among the large number exposed for sale. ”

“ Every morning, the little bird would fly to the parrot's perch; and there it would sit almost all day by the side of its great friend. Sometimes the parrot would raise his unchained claw, and the sparrow would perch upon it. ”

“ I noticed that the parrots were not so noisy as they had been before I left for the interior, and for several weeks I was at a loss to account for it. But one evening, while returning from the water-cocoanut palms, I espied two diminutive parrots fluttering through the bush. They were young ones and not quite able to fly, though nearly fledged. They would launch out from a limb, sometimes falling short of their next perch, and sometimes striking against a limb, when they would flutter to the ground, making small, parrot-like cries. ”

“ Next to the canary, the parrot is the pet bird of the house-hold. It is kept for its bright colors, its curious ways, and its power to talk.
2. The parrot is about the size of the dove. In color, those that we see most often are green or gray. Some parrots are of a bright red, and others are gay with bright green, red, and yellow.
3. The parrot has a thick, strong, and hooked bill. It is so strong that it can take hold of [61] the branch of a tree and hold itself up, and with it it can crack the hardest nuts. ”

“ Choosing the slenderest branch of a tree, the parrot fastens a bulrush of about two spans long to its outer extremity, at the depending end of which rush it weaves its nest in a most beautiful manner, suspended like a ball, and having only one passage for entering. ”

“ The parrot answered, “From Marignan.”
The prince asked, “To whom do you belong?” It answered, “To a Portuguese.” He asked again, “What do you there?” The parrot answered, “I look after chickens.” The prince laughing, exclaimed, “You look after chickens!” The parrot in reply said, “Yes, I do; and I know well how to do it;” clucking at the same time in imitation of the noise made by the hen to call her little chicks together. ”

“ More disconcerting still is the reflection that the Parrot, which is far less generously endowed by Nature in so far as singing muscles are concerned, is a much more skilful performer, inasmuch as it will reproduce with equal fidelity the human voice and the song of the Canary! ”

“ The other parrots did not venture to dispute the word of the wise parrot this time, but all did exactly as he had said. When the birdcatcher came and found what a steep rugged path he had to climb he vowed all sorts of vengeance on the parrots for giving him so much fatigue, and swore that he would break all their bones, for the brain was the only part he cared to keep uninjured. ”

“ Another parrot we have heard of, which also endeavoured to rise to the occasion, was the property of a publichouse-keeper whose patrons were characteristic for their thirst rather than for their patience and politeness. One day the bird escaped from its cage in the bar. It was discovered shortly afterwards on a tree, surrounded by a flock of rooks who were pecking at it from every side while the parrot was calling out, "One at a time, gentlemen! One at a time!" ”

“ In their plumage they may have all the colours of the rainbow, or one colour only, while in accomplishments they range from the deafening shrieks of macaws, to the "gentle soft warbling kind of song" of the grass or zebra parakeet of Australia, and the marvellous powers of speech of the true parrots. But the most talented of all these varieties is the grey parrot, which is a native of West Africa, and, when taken young, and well trained, displays some really wonderful gifts. ”

“ It lives on nuts and seeds, but when kept in the house it will sometimes eat meat.
5. The parrot learns to love its master and those that take care of it; but it is often cross to strangers, and will give them a terrible bite with its hooked bill if they come too near.
6. Like other birds, the parrot has four toes on each foot; but two of these are in front and two behind. The toes are very strong, and with them it can grasp things as we do with our hands. [62] ”

“ The parrot sat there, but said never a word. He merely raised one of his claws and sleeked up the feathers on the back of his neck, in the way his family know so well. Then, raising the feathers of his crest, he gave utterance to a very faint shriek.
"Get out of this, you rascal!" I cried and immediately got up and went toward him with the purpose of putting him out.
I approached the table very rapidly, expecting that the bird would fly away. But he remained motionless. I was about to lay rude hands on him, but I desisted.
"Why do violence to the creature? ”

“ Hardly less prominent a characteristic among parrots than cynicism is malice. The parrot delights openly and undisguisedly in giving annoyance. To seize the tail of a passing cat, or to awaken a sleeping dog with a sharp bite, affords him a delight over which he will laugh for hours. ”

“ Until he is caught, put in a cage, and taught to say “Pretty Polly”, the Parrot leads a very pleasant life. His home is usually in the very hot regions of the earth, where he makes a pretty picture with his bright plumage, flitting about in the dense forests with scores and hundreds of his friends. ”

“ The true parrots have the upper mandible toothed, and longer than high, and a short, rounded tail. These birds combine with the beauty of their plumage a nature of great docility, and have the faculty of imitating the human voice in a degree not possessed by other birds. They are found chiefly in Africa, from whence we get the gray parrot, the best talker. ”

“ Then he hurried to his wife, who was lying on some cushions under the tree on which the parrot had perched, and informed her that her favourite was really the king of a great country, and that, if she would whistle for the bird, they would all go together to a certain spot in the Forest of Marvels, ‘where I will restore him to his own shape. Only you must not be afraid or cry out, whatever I do,’ added he, ‘or everything will be spoilt.’ The wizard’s wife jumped up in an instant, so delighted was she, and began to whistle the song that the parrot loved ”

“ Parrots and many other birds, on the contrary—like the starling and still more markedly the American mocking-bird—being endowed with considerable flexibility of voice, imitate either songs or spoken words with great distinctness. In the parrot the power of attention is also very considerable, for the bird will often try over with itself repeatedly the lesson it has set itself to learn. ”

“ If I were you, I'd ask the old parrot about it; he is a wise bird, and perhaps he knows." This parrot of which she spoke was the most wise of all the thousand wooden parrots. The Rajah took his wife's advice, and when all the birds came home that evening, he called the old parrot and told him his dream, saying, "Can this be true?" ”

“ When they nibble and preen each other they may, as a rule, I think, be rightly said to cosset and caress, the expression and pose of the bird receiving the benefit being often beatific, and the enjoyment being, no doubt, of the nature of that which a parrot receives by having its poll scratched ”

“ I never felt tired of watching the parrots and paroquets, for besides their beauty of plumage of all kinds of soft tints of green, brightened with orange and scarlet and blue, they always looked such plump and delicately feathered birds. I have seen hundreds of them stuffed, and have admired the bird-mounters’ skill, but they never get anywhere near nature and the soft and downy beauty of a bird in its native state. ”

“ He was afraid of Hoots, the bear, and that is why he says Hoo, hoo!'"
WHY THE PARROT REPEATS THE WORDS OF MEN.
In the olden times when the earth was young, all the birds knew the language of men and could talk with them. Everybody liked the parrot, because he always told things as they were, and they called him the bird that tells the truth. ”

“ He lives upon fruit and honey, and when he is not feeding he is chattering and screeching. Even if his neighbour is pounced upon by a tree-snake or a four-footed enemy his grief and alarm only last for a few minutes. One parrot is never missed among so many. ”

“ In their native condition, however, the parrots are found in vast assemblies, which are often a thousand or more in number, and, seen clustered together and talking in loud and excited tones on the trees of some dark forest or sequestered swamp, or taking long, though low, flights through the air to their favourite watering places, with the sun shining on their brilliant plumage, they present a spectacle of great magnificence. ”

“ Occasionally a parrot or other long-tailed bird could be seen tossed and buffeted in an attempt to fly from one tree to another, frequently giving up the struggle and fairly drifting away to be lost among the foliage. ”