athers?--and see to his blue wings! I
don't wonder he is considered the most magnificent of the parrot tribe."

"It is certainly a very beautiful bird," said Charley; "but I've read
somewhere about it looking like a richly-liveried footman, and whoever
said so was not far wrong."

Dash had slipped away when he found there were no more pieces to be got
from the macaw; and when Herbert and Charley went into the room where
Mrs. Polly and the cockatoo stayed, there they found him, sitting at the
foot of Cockatoo's perch begging for a dainty morsel. The cockatoo was
chattering away to him; but had Dash only known all the severe names he
was being called, he would scarcely have sat there so calmly. Polly,
however, who had a greater command of the English language, was doing
her best to restrain his greedy disposition. "Oh fie, sir!" she kept
saying. "Greedy Dick!--Who stole the sugar?--Leave the room this
moment!--Oh fie, sir!"

Dash did lay back his ears and look round, a good deal ashamed of
himself; but he could not tear himself away so long as the cockatoo held
that tempting morsel. The greedy dog knew that both the cockatoo and
Polly never held anything long, and that if he only had patience he
would get it in the end. Polly was calling out for the twentieth
time--"Leave the room, sir!--Greedy Dick!--Oh fie! fie!" when Herbert
and Charley entered.

"Why, what's the matter, Polly?" said Herbert. "It's not a good thing to
lose your temper in that way. Come, tell us who this greedy Dick is,
that you are always sending out of the room."

Charley was always delighted to be with Herbert when he fed the parrots;
for though he did not understand their language, as Herbert did, his
cousin acted as interpreter, and some of the stories were really very
entertaining. The other children were often there too; and over and over
again they vowed to be kind to all living creatures, in the hope that
they too would be allowed to understand the language of the birds.

"Yes, sir; I shall be most happy to tell you about greedy Dick," said
Polly. "But I should like to see the new parrot. Cockatoo there says he
is so beautiful that we are thrown quite into the shade, and he has
been mourning ever since."

"Well, at present I really cannot let you see him," said Herbert. "He
says such naughty words, that I am forced to keep him in a room by
himself; but if you like, I can show you a picture of him, or of some
birds like him in their nati