The species most remarkable for their mimic babbling faculties are the Grey Parrot, or Jaco, a native of Africa, and the Green Parrot, from the West Indies and Tropical America.
In the sixteenth century a cardinal paid a hundred crowns for a Parrot because it recited the Apostles' Creed correctly. Monsieur de la Borde relates that he has seen a Parrot supply the place of chaplain to a ship, for he recited the prayer and rosary to the sailors. Levaillant heard a Parrot say the Lord's Prayer lying on its back, placing together the toes of its feet as we join our hands in the act of prayer. Willoughby mentions a Parrot which, when he said to him, "Laugh, Parrot!" immediately burst out laughing, and cried out an instant after, "O the great fool who made me laugh!" A keeper of a glass shop possessed one which, whenever he broke anything or knocked over a vase, invariably exclaimed, in tones of anger, "Awkward brute! he never does anything else."
"We have seen a Parrot," says Buffon, "which had grown old with his master, and partaken with him the infirmities of age. Accustomed to hear little more than the words, 'I am ill,' when asked, 'How are you, Parrot—how are you?' 'I am ill,' it replied in doleful tones, 'I am ill,' and stretching itself on the hearth—'I am ill.'" "A Parrot from Guinea," says the same author, "being taught on the journey by an old sailor, learnt his rough voice and his cough so perfectly that they could be mistaken. Although it had been given immediately after to a young person, and only heard his voice, it did not forget the lessons of its former master, and nothing was so agreeable as to hear it pass from a sweet and pleasant voice to its old hoarseness and the cough of early times."
Goldsmith relates that a Parrot belonging to King Henry VIII., and always confined in a chamber bordering upon the Thames, had learnt several phrases which it heard repeated by the boatmen and passengers. One day it was let fall into the Thames, when it cried with a strong voice, "A boat! a boat! twenty pounds to save me!" A waterman immediately threw himself into the river, thinking that some one was drowning, and was much surprised to find it was only a bird. Having recognised the king's Parrot, he carried it to the palace, claiming the recompense the bird had promised when in distress. The circumstance was related to Henry VIII., who laughed much, and paid it with a good grace.
The Prince Léon, son of the Emperor Basil, having been condemned to death by his father, owed his life to his Parrot, which, in repeating the lamentable accents several times, "Alas! my master Léon!" ended by touching the heart of this barbarous father. M. Lemaout says:—"In a town of Normandy a butcher's wife beat her child unmercifully every day. The infant sank under the ill-treatment. The justice of man made no remonstrance, but a Grey Parrot which lived in the house of a rope-maker, opposite to that of the butcher, took upon itself the chastisement of this unnatural mother. It continually repeated the cries which the poor child uttered when he saw his mother rush at him with the rod in her hand—'What for? what for?' This phrase was uttered by the bird with such doleful and supplicating accents, that the indignant passers-by entered unexpectedly into the shop, and reproached the rope-maker with his barbarity. He justified himself by showing his Parrot, and relating the history of his neighbour's child. After some months the woman, pursued by the accusing phrase and the murmurs of public opinion, was obliged to sell her business and leave the village."
The Marquis of Langle, in his "Travels in Spain," writes thus:—"I saw at Madrid, at the English Consul's, a Parrot which has retained a quantity of things—an incredible number of stories and anecdotes—which it retails and articulates without hesitation. It spoke Spanish, murdered French, knew some verses of Racine, could say grace, repeat the fable of the Crow, and count thirty louis. They dared scarcely hang its cage at the windows; for when it was there, and the weather was fine, the Parrot talked ceaselessly. It said everything it knew, apostrophised all passers-by (except women), and talked politics. In pronouncing the word Gibraltar it burst out laughing. One would think it was a man who laughed."
An English gentleman bought a Grey Parrot in Bristol, the intelligence of which was quite extraordinary. It asked for everything it wanted, and gave orders: it sang several songs, and whistled some airs very well, beating the measure. When it made a false note it recommenced, and never committed the mistake again. We have often, when passing through the Rue Four-des-Flammes, at Montpellier, heard a Parrot which sung and articulated most distinctly the two verses of this song:—
"Quand je bois du vin clairet, Tout tourne, tout tourne au cabaret."
Parrots imitate not only the words, but even the gestures of those with whom they come in contact. Scaliger knew one which repeated the songs of some young Savoyards, and imitated their dances.
