Part 24 (2/2)
These are often so startling as to arouse suspicion of their authenticity, and yet a moment's reflection will show that coincidence plays a large part in these demonstrations, and that many of the most astonis.h.i.+ng examples of felicitous interjection, or repartee, are due to this, and not to any special gift of intelligence on the part of the bird. An ordinary parrot with half a dozen phrases which it is constantly repeating, will in the nature of things, often use them in singularly felicitous connection with current conversation. No notice is taken of the many instances in which the phrase is inappropriate and yet a few cases of remarkable fitness are held to demonstrate extraordinary intelligence. Teach a parrot such a simple rejoinder as ”not I!” and the bird using it in answer to all sorts of questions, will often use it with apparent intelligence, but a doll might be made to show equal wit.
That parrots are taught to give certain answers to certain questions is of course true, but in these cases the questions suggest the answers and all the intelligence is shown by the interrogator. Those birds which have lived many years and acquired many phrases, will naturally, from the extent of their repertoire, the more often surprise their hearers; but that they show any greater intelligence may perhaps be doubted. That some of the parrots, and especially the Love-birds, show great feeling for each other and attachment to their owners is well known, but the claim sometimes made that they show greater intelligence than any other birds may be very safely disputed. The term ”parrot-like,” as applied to the repet.i.tion of lessons by rote which are not understood by those repeating them, involves no injustice to the parrot.
Famous Parrots.
There have been many famous parrots who have played their part in history if they have not rivalled the geese that saved Rome. The Emperor Basilius Macedo was induced by a Parrot, who cast a gloom over the guests at a banquet by continually calling out, ”Alas, alas! poor Prince Leo”, to liberate his son whom he had confined on suspicion of treason.
The Emperor observed the gloom of his guests and urged them to the pleasures of the table, when one of them is said to have responded, ”How should we eat, Sire, when we are thus reproached by this bird of our want of duty to your family? The brute animal is mindful of its Lord; and we that have reason, have neglected to supplicate your Majesty in behalf of the prince, whom we all believe to be innocent, and to suffer under calumny.” Whether the bird had been purposely taught this phrase, or had merely acquired it by hearing its frequent repet.i.tion does not appear. The following memorial which appeared in the London papers in October 1822 is quoted from the ”Percy Anecdotes.” ”A few days ago, died, in Half Moon Street, Piccadilly, the celebrated parrot of Colonel O'Kelly. This singular bird sang a number of songs in perfect time and tune. She could express her wants articulately, and give her orders in a manner nearly approaching to rationality. Her age was not known; it was, however, more than thirty years, for previous to that period, Colonel O'Kelly bought her at Bristol for one hundred guineas. The Colonel was repeatedly offered five hundred guineas a year for the bird, by persons who wished to make a public exhibition of her; but this, out of tenderness to the favourite, he constantly refused. She could not only repeat a great number of sentences, but answer questions put to her.
When singing, she beat time with all the appearance of science; and so accurate was her judgment that if by chance she mistook a note, she would revert to the bar where the mistake was made, correct herself, and still beating regular time, go through the whole with wonderful exactness.” A Grey parrot is said to have been sold in 1500, for a hundred guineas, to a Lord High Cardinal at Rome, on account of its ability to repeat, without error, the Apostles' Creed.
The Grey Parrot.
The Grey Parrot though less attractive in colour than other species, is perhaps the most popular of the parrot family on account of its superior accomplishments as an imitator of familiar sounds. Mr. Jesse secured from a lady friend a description of the performances of a grey parrot which resided at Hampton Court, from which we quote the following: ”Her laugh is quite extraordinary, and it is impossible not to help joining in it, more especially when in the midst of it she cries out, 'Don't make me laugh so; I shall die, I shall die!' and then continues laughing more violently than before. Her crying and sobbing are curious; and if you say, 'Poor Poll, what is the matter?' she says, 'So bad, so bad; got such a cold;' and after crying some time, will gradually cease, and making a noise like drawing a long breath, say, 'Better now,' and begins to laugh.” ”If any one happens to cough or sneeze, she says, 'what a bad cold.' She calls the cat very plainly, saying, 'puss, puss,'
and then answers 'mew'; but the most amusing part is, that whenever I want to make her call it, and to that purpose say, 'puss, puss', myself she always answers, 'mew', till I begin mewing; and then she begins calling 'puss', as quickly as possible. She imitates every kind of noise, and barks so naturally, that I have known her to set all the dogs on the parade of Hampton Court barking, and the consternation I have seen her cause in a party of c.o.c.ks and hens, by her crowing and chuckling, has been the most ludicrous thing possible. She sings just like a child and I have more than once thought it was a human being; and it is most ludicrous to hear her make what one would call a false note and then say, 'oh la!' and burst out laughing at herself, beginning again in quite another key. She is very fond of singing 'Buy a Broom', which she says quite plainly, but if we say, with a view to make her repeat it, 'Buy a Broom', she always says 'Buy a _Brush_', and then laughs as a child might do when mischievous. She often performs a kind of exercise which I do not know how to describe, except by saying that it is like the lance exercise. She puts her claw behind her, first on one side and then on the other, then in front, and round over her head; and whilst doing so, keeps saying, 'Come on, come on!' and when finished she says 'Bravo, beautiful,' and draws herself up.”
Parrot Talk.
To deny the parrot the understanding of what it says, is to relieve it of the responsibility of using bad language, and offering unsound advice, and this it surely needs. A gentleman who was in the habit of kissing his parrot and then kissing his wife, before leaving home in the morning, taught the bird to say, on being kissed, ”Now kiss the missus,”
with the result that most of the gentlemen visitors who took any notice of the parrot were recommended to salute the lady of the house. Another parrot whose cage occupied a window close to a fas.h.i.+onable church continually accosted the pa.s.sers-by, by calling out ”That's right! Go to church, keep up appearances.” Such remarks must often be very embarra.s.sing, as must have been the words and actions of a parrot who frequently called out ”Who kissed the pretty girl?” and then gave a perfect imitation of the sound of several kisses in succession. Perhaps no more aggravating use was ever made of a parrot's powers than that witnessed by Buffon, who says, ”I have seen a parrot very ridiculously employed, belonging to a distiller who had suffered pretty severely in his circ.u.mstances from an informer who lived opposite him. This bird was taught to p.r.o.nounce the ninth commandment,--'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour,' with a very clear, loud, articulate voice. The bird was generally placed in a cage over against the informer's house, and delighted the whole neighbourhood with its persevering exhortations.”
ORDER IV.
Pigeons.
There are many varieties of pigeons, some being peculiar to certain districts, and others covering a much more extended geographical area.
Mr. Darwin divides the British varieties into four groups: I. The English carrier; the Runt, and the Barb. II. The Fantail; the African owl; the Short-faced Tumbler; the Indian Frill-back; and the Jacobin.
III. The English Pouter, and IV. The Dove-cote pigeon; the Swallow; the Spot; the Nun; the English Frill-back; the Laugher, and the Trumpeter.
The Pa.s.senger pigeon of America, the Nicobar pigeon of the Philippine Islands, the Great-crowned pigeon of New Guinea and the Hook-billed ground pigeon of Samoa are other important species.
Carrier Pigeons.
In the ”Percy Anecdotes” there is a brief history of the use of carrier pigeons, which we quote as follows:--”The first mention we find made of the employment of pigeons as letter carriers is by Ovid, in his 'Metamorphoses', who tells us that Taurosthenes, by a pigeon stained with purple, gave notice of his having been victor at the Olympic games on the very same day to his father at aegina. Pliny informs us that during the siege of Modena by Marc Antony, pigeons were employed by Brutus to keep up a correspondence with the besieged. When the city of Ptolemais, in Syria, was invested by the French and Venetians, and it was ready to fall into their hands, they observed a pigeon flying over them, and immediately conjectured that it was charged with letters to the garrison. On this, the whole army raising a loud shout, so confounded the poor aerial post that it fell to the ground, and on being seized, a letter was found under its wings, from the sultan, in which he a.s.sured the garrison that 'he would be with them in three days, with an army sufficient to raise the siege.' For this letter the besiegers subst.i.tuted another to this purpose, 'that the garrison must see to their own safety, for the sultan had such other affairs pressing him that it was impossible for him to come to their succour;' and with this false intelligence they let the pigeon free to pursue his course. The garrison, deprived by this decree of all hope of relief, immediately surrendered. The sultan appeared on the third day, as promised, with a powerful army, and was not a little mortified to find the city already in the hands of the Christians. Carrier pigeons were again employed, but with better success, at the siege of Leyden, in 1675. The garrison were, by means of the information thus conveyed to them, induced to stand out, till the enemy, despairing of reducing the place, withdrew. On the siege being raised, the Prince of Orange ordered that the pigeons who had rendered such essential service should be maintained at the public expense, and that at their death they should be embalmed and preserved in the town house, as a perpetual token of grat.i.tude.”
Pigeons on the Wing.
Pigeons are said to travel as fast as 2,200 yards per minute and to sustain flight for hundreds of miles at a stretch. The extraordinary manner in which they will find their way almost incredible distances has suggested all kinds of speculation as to the instinct or sense which guides them. A well known pigeon fancier, interviewed by a writer who published the results of the interview in ”Chums” (Ca.s.sell & Co.) says, ”The popular notion that carrier pigeons are guided by some 'direction sense,' or blind instinct, is quite as absurd as the French belief that they follow certain electrical currents. I have had to do with pigeons for over twenty years,” he continued, ”and I am open to demonstrate to anyone that in flight they are guided by sight alone. Of course, some pigeons are more sagacious, cleverer than others; but the fact remains, and everything tends to prove it. For example, no carrier-pigeon can find its way over a strange country: it often gets lost in a fog; and again, until taught by experience, it is often led astray by colours and objects which appear to be familiar. Quite recently, when I was trying some young birds, I had an instance of how easily they may be led astray. Close to my residence is a large red-brick building, which, to an old bird, would prove a good landmark miles away. In this case, however, the birds had not been tried before, although, of course, they had been let loose and had circled round the loft for several weeks. I took five birds with me some half-mile distant from home; and, letting them loose separately from the box, was rather surprised to see four out of the five, after circling round, fly off in an entirely opposite direction to that in which they should have gone. I soon solved the mystery, however, for, watching the birds, I saw they were making for another red-brick building, which showed up clearly in the sunlight.
Arriving there, each one evidently discovered its mistake, and, after flying back to the starting-point, found their whereabouts, and made for home--not in a straight line, however, for young birds invariably take a crooked, tortuous path, as though feeling their way. If pigeons are let loose on water (from a boat in a lake or wide river), they always make for the nearest land first; then, circling round, widening their circle and rising higher at the same time, they keep the starting-point in view until they sight some familiar object, in which direction they travel.
If a bird is dull, or 'stupid,' as we term it, and has been tried from various points of the compa.s.s, it often happens that, when taken to a distance (say thirty or forty miles), the time occupied in reaching the loft is three of four times longer than was expected; but, take it there next day, and the journey will be done quicker than a mile a minute. Why is that? Well, the birds get confused; some object which it may have seen on a former journey, may possibly stand out boldly; and, flying at once toward this, the bird may find itself just as far from finding the 'lay of the land.' Thus it may go from one familiar point to another before 'striking' for home. That is the reason why, in training a bird for a match, we take it only in the direction from which it will have to fly, increase the distance gradually, until the bird is familiar with the path it must travel and recognises each landmark as soon as it comes in sight.”
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