ARARA
Although Arara’s vocabulary is not large--these macaws are rarely taught to speak--he says a few words very distinctly, and his imitation of other animals is quite extraordinary.
Often I have hunted vainly for a cat in my room, hearing a piteous mewing, and thinking one must be imprisoned in some cupboard, and all the time it was Arara sitting on a branch of a tree below my window. His imitation of the bleating of sheep, the cackling of hens, and the crowing of cocks would puzzle the most observant.
I must not forget to mention what happened to that Chinese rascal Chang after we left him at Colombo. Hearing nothing of him for over two months, I fondly imagined he had settled down in England a respectable and civilized dog. Alas, this was anything but the case.
One morning a letter arrived from my cousin at Aldershot, saying that, after fighting with every dog in the regiment and mortally wounding two pedigree poodles, that terrible chow-dog had finally and hopelessly disgraced himself by appearing one morning on parade, completely disorganizing the men, who were drawn up at attention, by wildly careering, up and down between the lines, and jumping up at any he chanced to recognise--a performance which did not improve the appearance of their spotless pipe-clayed belts and clean tunics, the morning happening to be rather muddy.
Finding that his affectionate greetings were not appreciated, Chang next turned his attention to the legs of the Colonel’s horse, thereby much disturbing that noble steed and his rider.
‘Whose dog is that?’ roared the Colonel, casting an infuriated glance upon him.
‘Captain X----’s, sir,’ replied the orderly.
‘Confound it! what does he mean by keeping such a brute? Tell Captain X---- to have the dog removed from the barracks immediately.’
Oh, I blush now to think of Chang’s disgrace. He was promptly billeted at a neighbouring inn; but an evil spirit seems again to have possessed his Celestial brain, and he was returned a few days later ‘with thanks,’ and an alarming bill for the slaughter of numerous chickens and ducks.