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Show Persian kitten was bourn v, mm w.iet, I introduced to the parrot whs kI unit' addressed as "Kitty," a word lie li id hardly beard since the departure of the other. The correctness of parrots' imitation, the result, no doubt, of their careful practice, is remarkable. A lady of the Dutch court, visiting the palace in the wood at the Hague, soo:i after the death of the late yuoen of Holland, was startled by hearing the queen's voice exactly reproduced. It was a white oockatoo that had been u great pet of hers, which was in a earner ear-ner of the room. SUalE BIRDS THAT TALK." THE MACPIE, JACKDAW, CROW AND PARROT. 'Sua Talaabla II I at Idarallng the Parrot U b a Brllllaat foat natloaalltt tni Eschew I'rofaallj The trow Kind U s Fair lalktr. "The most accomplished talker of .'Indian birds Is the uiynah, a handsome i purple-black bird, with a short tail. raage beak and legs, and bright yellow yel-low ear-flaps, which run around to the back of its baud like a bro.id collar. It Is a bold, lively bird, with a mellow rioag und whistle of its own. Its power of reproducing human speech U wonderful, and it exhibits the great-vt great-vt anxiety that tho tones shall be correct, cor-rect, repeating them sof.tly to itself, with its head on one side, aud then shouting out tho words. Another bird which talks better than uio-tt. and whittles butter than nny, is the piping crow, it is a lively black-mid-while bird, is largo ns a irook, but far more elegant in form. "Several specimens inbubit tho zoological zoologi-cal gardens. tno tioeit is in the (w-,tern uvury, where ho whistles 'Merrily Danced tho Quakor'' In tones -tike a Lute. The American blue jay says the I-ondon Spec-tutor, a moot brilliant creature, flushing with hues of emerald -and turquoi.-o, is un admirable mimic f many sounds, even of the human voice. Wilson speaks of one "which had nil the tricks and loquacity of a tjMrrot; pilfered all it could oonveulont- ty tu-wry off; answered to its name -with great sociability when callod upon, up-on, and could articulate a number of words pretty distinctly." Jackdaws and the American crow can also be '.taught to talk. But in all the crow -tribe, except (he piping crow, the re- production of human speech seems to bo more a trick of mimacry than an effort to acquire a substitute for sonir. fur-rots, tnynahs, and some cockatoos take infinite pains to learn correctly ind increuso their stock of phrases. Hut tho magpie or jay mimics what it Cuds easy, and lakes no further trouble. Even the ravon seldom has many words at command, though, owing to Its deep, resonant voice and imposing sizo, it uttracts more attention atten-tion than a chattering jay. The raven is the largest croature except man that -an "talk," and fancy and superstition lliave naturally exaggerated Its powers. sBiit the crow tribe, though as clover jas the parrots, are not so cosily domesticated, do-mesticated, and their beaks and rfcresues are less weli suited for .the musical sounds of human speech. Most of the. parrots,, and somo cockatoos and macaws, have both tho mental and physical gifts necessary to i mako them excel in talking. Parrots of nil tJassos have fleshy tongues, t moistened with saliva, and the arched beak provides a substitute for our fialato and leoth. They have also -wide nostrils and their natural voices ..re loud enough and strong enough to " oquaA , tU.. volume ... ol bums n speech, Jn disposition they are highly imitative. imita-tive. Cockatoos are almost like mon-llfeys mon-llfeys in mimicking men. For instance, -"if you bow to them they will make elaborate bows. If you put your . head on one side fjey will often do so too. But with many parrots the desire de-sire to learn new sounds is not, we think, a mere trick of mimicry, but the desire to possess a song an accomplishment ac-complishment with which to please, identical in kind with the motive ; which prompts the young of singing birds to learn their parents' notes, or, 'in tho case of the canary, to learn and improve upon a Bong, not tholr own, which they have transmitted to their posterity. . The following account of the de velop-fjient velop-fjient of the till king power in a young muprnlif whii'Vt wnbnvAanrn miiiVi lutA. ily is, we submit a strong confirmation vfct this view. Our informant is a lady whose sympathies are by no means limited to parrots, as tho context will show, and her observations are wholly ireliable: "We bought Burry," she vfritos, "when he was quite young, bo-fore bo-fore bis feathers are fully grown, and we had him a year before he began to .tails. Then ho began to mako very odd noises, as if ho was trying to say words, but could not quite do it Now ,ho constantly learns new words and .-sentences, and early in the morning I i hear him practicing them over to him-. him-. aolf, exactly as our bubios used to do . In the early morning hours in bed. If lie improves as much in tho next ton . years as he has in the lust ho should bo able to recite a poem if we teach liiin." There is no reason why a yarrotsheuld not continuo to increase liis stock of phrases ns he grows older, if the supposition that ho looks upon itasAn accomplishment for which he is in somo way the better, Is correct. 'jTbe butcher bird, for Instance, and tho isedge warbler do not rest satisfied viith learning their own notes, but (often learaand reproduce the notes of other birds hi great perfection. - The mocking bird, whioh, like the sudge warbler, has a fine song of his own, does tho same. But the parrot has itue advantage in being very long-lived aad constantly in human company. - U.'ho.' young parrot mentioned before -gave an excellent instance of the association as-sociation in its mind of words with things. Before it could talk, it was friendly with a kitten which used to enter its cage. This kitten was sent way. and for a year there was not another, io the house. Then a gray |