lt. 'Leading the public life they did, in
which they were exposed to every sort of society, the natural morality
of the birds was so far lost, that they had become fluent in every
term of reproach and indecency; and thunders of applause were elicited
among the crowd of passengers by the aptness of their repartees.' In
India, the taste is the same, but the habits different; a sketch of
which we furnish from our Old Indian. The carpenter, she tells us,
while planing the plank, which he holds between his toes, amuses
himself by talking to his parrot. The shoemaker, while binding his
slippers, or embroidering his rich velvet shoes, for the feet of some
sable beauty, pauses every now and then, to listen to the chattering
of his pet. The _guala_, on returning home, after disposing of his
butter or buttermilk, first takes up some bamboo twigs, one of which
is appropriated to each customer, and marking, by a notch with a
knife, the quantity disbursed to each, turns, as a matter of course,
to his favourite parrot, and either listens to the recital of his
previous lessons, or begins to teach him some fresh invocation to some
score of gods and goddesses. These men seldom condescend to teach
their favourites anything else; but should a lady be the owner, the
parrot's lessons are more varied, and more domestic in their
character. He is taught to call his mistress 'mother,' and himself
'Baba mittoo' (sweet child.) He is sometimes instructed to rail at her
neighbours, and sometimes to scold the children; and thus she lives in
sweet companionship with her bird, feeding him with steeped grain,
rice and milk, sugar-cane and Indian corn. Of the two last he is
exceedingly fond.

India abounds in a variety of parrots and perroquets, the names of
many of which I have forgotten; but the generic name is _Tota_. The
more common are the _kudjlah_, _teeah_, and _pahari_. These learn to
speak glibly, being generally taken out of the nest before they are
fully fledged. Crutches of various kinds are selected for the poor
captive, the most ingenious of which is made of a single joint of
bamboo, the two ends being formed into cups--the middle part being
cut, and then bent and arched over the fire; the perch being formed of
a straight piece of bamboo, which joins the two cups below. A hook
fastened to the top of the arch enables the owner to suspend it from
the thatched ceiling of his hut; and thus the parrot swings about,
listening to his master's pi