‘Yes; I suppose it reminds them of the swinging branches of the trees in the country where they lived and flew about.’
‘But where is their country?’ asked Alice.
‘In some part of Africa; in that hot country there are plenty of those gay-coloured birds. You know where Africa is on the map, and that it is one of the great divisions of the world?’
‘Yes, I know that: Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia.’
‘Quite right, my child. But though it is cruel and wrong to shut birds up in cages, now that parrots have been brought away from their far distant home, and because it is much too cold for them to live and fly about in the woods in England, we must try and make our parrot and those pretty little love-birds as comfortable and as happy as we can.’
Another cage, a square one, was chosen for the love-birds, and seed was bought as well, at another shop, and then they drove home with their new live toys.
Grandmamma showed Alice how to strew sand on the board at the bottom of each cage, and where to put the seed and water for the birds’ food; and when the cages were made ready, grandmamma opened the doors of the parrot’s new and old cages, and putting the two cages quite close together, the children went a little way off and watched the parrot. First he looked at his new cage a short while with outstretched neck, till he saw the seed and water, when he suddenly hopped on to the open door, and then into the large cage, and began feeding and drinking eagerly at the seed and water, as if he had been very long without food, as most likely, during the storm, no one had had time to attend to him, and the birds had been forgotten.
‘If the ship had gone down our birds would have been drowned, would they not, grandmamma?’ said Alice.
‘Yes, dear Alice, they would; and, what would have been sadder, the poor men too, if God had not taken such care of them.’
‘I am so glad,’ said Alice, turning to the bird, ‘that you were not drowned, you pretty parrot!’