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Show PARROTS LIVE FOR A CENTURY. Could Talk as Well as a Man If Educated Edu-cated When young. There 1 3 no doubt '(if tho facj that ho parrot 13 one of the longest lived of all animals. There Is a well authenticated au-thenticated caso of a" grown man who used to go to see a remarkable talk Ing cockatoo which his grandmother nnd personally known when shu wan a little girl. So It Is probably no fair story that the birds sometimes sur vivo for a century, Inasmuch as actual knowledge of tho particular fowl qbt ored something like seventy years. In tho West Indies nnd elsew herWJtr tho tropics pnriots are commonly VI lowed to roam at will nliuut Iioiis'd gardens nnd it meal times, when they hear the clatter of plates they will walk Into the dlnlng-rooin, climb on the backs of tho chairs and Insist upon up-on their share of whatever there Is 'to' eat. t It seems odd, when one comes o think of It, thnt birds should be 'the only animals that can talk. There are othor speaking birds besides parrots, of course, such as the crow, for exam pie, but parrots are decidedly the most capablo conversationalists. So excellent Is the vocal organ with which a parrot Is provided that If li Vnly had the requisite brains it could tnlk almost as well as a man. Doubt less the most Intelligent parrots nri tho best speakers, other things being equal, but, as already suggested, no parrot, howcrr clever, can become n flrst-rato talker unless Its education lias been begun eatly In Ufa. |
