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THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

 

noises ; and yet, odd as it may appear,
she seemed to be more deeply in love
with him than with any of the rest of her
favorites. My study was so near this
croaker, that I was compelled to listen to
him from morning till night; and he an-
noyed me prodigiously, 1 do assure you.
It was quite as much as I could do,
sometimes, to keep as much patience in
the bank as was necessary for current ex-
penses. Whatever love for the parrot
family I might have had previous to my
acquaintance with my neighbor across the
way, was pretty effectually used up long
enough before his death, which took place
about three months after his mistress had
adopted him, and which, as may be sup-
posed, cost me no tears,

It is amusing, however, to hear some
of the species of the parrot imitate other
animals.

Some years since, a parrot in Boston,
who had been taught to whistle as a per-
son does when Ke is calling a dog, was
sitting in his cage at the door of a shop.
As he was whistling in this manner, a
large dog happened to be passing the spot,
and, imagining he heard the call of his
master, turned suddenly about, and ran
towards the parrot’s cage. At this mo-
ment, the bird exclaimed, in a very loud
tone of voice, “Get out, you brute!” The
astonished dog retreated, leaving the par-
rot to enjoy the joke. |

According to an Abyssinian historian,
there was a most remarkable parrot in
that country, in 1621. He was about
the size of a hen. He had been taught
to talk in Indian, Portuguese, and Arabic,
and could speak the king’s name almost
as plainly asa man. Among other strange
things which he was in the habit of doing,
he would neigh like a horse and imitate

the mewing of a cat so exactly that no
one could tell the difference, unless they
saw the parrot making a noise. He was
such a wise bird, that his master was
summoned to appear with him before the
assembly of judges, so that they might
find out the cause of these remarkable
talents. In that age of the world, you
know, the belief in witcheraft was very
common in many parts of the world; and
some of the Abyssinians thought that this
parrot’s skill in imitating sounds so ex-
actly, was in some way to be traced to the
agency of evil spirits. The judges acquit-
ted the bird, however.

Some time in the seventeenth century,
there was a parrot in Brazil, who seems
to have been even a greater mimic than
the famous one who lived in Abyssinia.
You may be aware, that the Dutch had
possession of this country for some years.
This parrot flourished during that time,
and while Prince Maurice was at the head
of the Brazilian government. The bird
was celebrated for answering, like a ra-
tional creature, many of the common
questions that were put to him. The
prince sent for him. When he was in-
troduced into the room where the goy-
ernor and several others were sitting, he
immediately exclaimed, in the Brazilian
language, “ What a company of white
men are here!” “ Who is that man?”
they asked him, pointing to the prince.
The parrot answered, “Some general or
other.” When the attendants carried him
up to the prince, he asked him, through
the medium of an interpreter—for he
could not speak the Brazilian language—
“Fyrom what place do you come?” The
parrot replied, “From Marignan.” “To
whom do you belong?’ inquired the
prince. “To a Portuguese,” was the an-