The Parrot
Until he is caught, put in a cage, and taught to say “Pretty Polly”, the Parrot leads a very pleasant life. His home is usually in the very hot regions of the earth, where he makes a pretty picture with his bright plumage, flitting about in the dense forests with scores and hundreds of his friends. He lives upon fruit and honey, and when he is not feeding he is chattering and screeching. Even if his neighbour is pounced upon by a tree-snake or a four-footed enemy his grief and alarm only last for a few minutes. One parrot is never missed among so many.
The Rook
The Rook is a busy, chattering, cheerful soul, who loves plenty of noise and bustle, and is never content with his own company. In order to have his friends and relations around him, he builds his nest in a kind of bird-village, or rookery as it is called, high up in a clump of tall trees. The rookery is governed by strict laws, and one of the strictest is that strangers are not admitted on any account. If any rash new-comer ventures to begin nest-building, the old inhabitants set upon him with beak and claw, drive him out of the rookery, and tear his house to pieces.
The Owl
Nobody could be half so wise as the Owl looks; but there is no reason to suppose that he has more brains than the rest of us. By day he keeps himself to himself, for the sun is bad for his eyes; but at dusk he comes out from his hole in the belfry tower or ivy-covered wall, and flits about the fields on the look-out for his supper. When they hear his grim “Hoot-toot!” the rat, and the mole, and the little field-mouse had better hurry home to their nests.
