Grandmamma buys a parrot saved from the wreck.—Page [125].
The sailor then, putting the parrot in its cage into Alice’s hand, disappeared among the crowd; and before many minutes had passed, the children saw the same sailor on the deck of the ship, and saw him let himself down to the ground by a rope, and soon come again towards them holding a small cage or box. In this were two much smaller birds, of slender shape, with long tails, and of the most beautiful green colour. Alice and Beatrice could scarcely express their joy when grandmamma bought them as well, saying, at the same time—
‘These are love-birds, from Australia.’
The sailor looked, and said, ‘Yes, that is their name, and they came from Sydney; but the parrot I got off the west coast of Africa.’
‘Will you have a monkey too, ma’am? One of our men has several.’
‘No, thank you,’ said the lady; ‘I have enough now, and am not fond of monkeys. But now we must go, dear children, first to Brown’s shop, where I will get two proper cages for our new birds, for the poor creatures cannot move in these. Can you carry the parrot, Alice? is it not too heavy for you?’
‘No, not at all,’ said Alice, a little proudly; ‘I like to carry our parrot. May I hold the cage the whole way home?’
‘Yes, if you like, my dear;’ and they walked on to the shop, where grandmamma soon found a nice large cage for the parrot. It was of brass wire all round, and from the top hung inside a large wooden ring, in which grandmamma told the children parrots like always to sit and swing.
‘What! like the squirrels on the trees, grandmamma?’ said Alice.