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Show A "Wonderful Parrot. The recent decease of a somewhat noted parrot, of the gray African spe cies, very" nruch to the sorrow of his owner, a resident of Congress street east, recalls some anecdotes of the bird that we have heard related by his owner, own-er, that would seem almost incredible, were they not wed attested. Among others, the following good one will perhaps per-haps suffice to prove the wonderful sagacity sa-gacity of Polly, when he chose to be smart : His owner was teasing him playfully one day, when Polly caught one of his lingers biting it quite severely. Scolding him a little in response, he m?ed the words "You old rip," he avers, the first and odIv time he had ever done so. Some few days after this occurrence, some lady acquaintances acquaint-ances of the family called to see aud make Polly's acquaintance, as they had heard of him and his exploits. Of course his mistress, bavin;; heard the object of the visit, was quae anxious to have him show all his good points. Bringing him into the parlor, she commenced her efforts at an introduction introduc-tion to the ladies by talking to and coaxing him to throw off his natural reserve in company and show oft some of his acquirement.-'. But all this would not induce him to make a mo-tiou mo-tiou or utter a syllable. U:s mistress not succeeding, the ladies undertook, by eatresses and coaxing, to draw him out : but Polly sits back on his perch without an apparent shadow of interest inter-est in the affair. At last the ladies, becoming tired of their efforts, rose to depart, when one of them, indignant at his treatment, went up to his cage to bid him good bye, with a few words in condemnation of his treatment of ladies who had called expressly to see him. Polly listened patiently to the lecture, and, when it was finished, ran across his perch, put his head out through the bars until his bill was in close proximity to her face, and then, in his loudest, plainest, and most indignant in-dignant tones, roared out, "You old rip 1" A stampede from the parlor was the instantaneous effect of that speech. The most striking peculiarity of this parrot was that he had no sing-song phrases to be constantly repeated whether in or out of place, but his talking, talk-ing, both answers and questions, were apropos to the time. As an illustration, illustra-tion, he always recognized his master's mas-ter's step, and would instantly call out to him, "How do you do, old boy?" aud being answered "Pretty well," his response was "All right." On seeing his owner putting on his hat and coat to leave the house, he was sure to call for his parting salute with "Good-bye, old boy." "Coiue aud kiss me goodbye." good-bye." Identifying and always calling by name every meaibcr of the family without any mistakes is an instance that we have never heard related before of any of the bird species. If wanting his food, or to see his mistress, he would address the servant, "Bridget, where's Mrs. II?" If the reply was "Gone out," he would then call for any other member of the family that would answer his purpose, and always correctly by name, and when they were not present. pres-ent. These are but a very small sample of his sayings and doings. His vocal, and especially his imitative powers, were equally well developed. He would whistle a part of the "Silver Lake Waltz" as well as the human voice could render it. Laughing, crying, and the perfect imitation of other birds and animals, and peculiar voices of all kinds seemed to be his favorite pastime. pas-time. Detroit Free Press. |