Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Teaching Parrots To Talk

1900

An Undertaking That Requires Good Judgment

The natural tendency of some species of parrots to learn to talk is well illustrated at the zoo, where a collection of parrots was recently added to the animals and birds on exhibition.

In the confusion of sounds — the roaring of lions, the trumpeting of the elephant, the chatter of the monkeys, the stentorian commands of the animal trainers, and the blaring of the band — may be heard the shrill screech of the parrots.

An intent listener will discover that the birds are imitating the sounds they hear and some of them are repeating words which they catch in the general jargon of the place. Even Lecturer Rollins is imitated in some of his sentences describing the animals or the feats about to be performed. Alexander Day, assistant superintendent of the zoo, says that, like the wild animals which are capable of being trained, the parrots will early give evidence of their aptitude to learn to talk.

The best way to train a parrot to talk is, he says, to keep it in a room away from other birds or animals, and with its cage covered when the lessons are given. This is to teach the bird to distinguish the sounds alone and not the individuality of the teacher. The gray parrots are said to be the best talkers, although the Amazonian or green parrot is a good talker and is the one most commonly seen. These come from South America and the West Indies. The rosellas and macaws, which also come from the West Indies, can rarely be taught to talk. — Baltimore Sun.

No comments: