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| PD. thanks, reusableart.com |
In which a parrot decides to be kind of a creep to the family cat...
* * *Parrots are possessed of a very strong sense of humour, and are much given to practical joking, after the ways of mankind. My own parrot had a bad habit of whistling for the dog, and then enjoying the animal's discomfiture; and there have been many parrots who would even play practical jokes on human beings. Dogs and cats, however, seem to be the principal victims of the parrot's sense of humour.
I know a case where a parrot is allowed to go about the house as it likes. In that house there is also a cat, with which Polly is pleased to amuse herself. One day, when the cat was lying asleep on the rug, the parrot began to mew and scream just like young kittens when they are hurt. Up jumped the cat, and rushed in frantic haste to her beloved offspring, and was very much astonished to find them all safe and comfortably asleep. She then returned to the rug; but as soon as she had curled herself up, and settled herself comfortably, the parrot recommenced her mewings and cries, and in this way contrived to dupe the cat three times.
-- Wood, J. G. 1827-1889. (1903). Man and beast, here and hereafter: illustrated by more than three hundred original anecdotes. 8th ed. London: Gibbings & company. 272-3
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