Animal Intelligence: The International Scientific Series, Vol. XLIV.Romanes, George John
Science
Animal Intelligence: The International Scientific Series, Vol. XLIV.
Romanes, George John
Animal behavior; Animal intelligence
Sometimes when only two or three were in the room, at
quiet occupations instead of talking, she would utter
at short intervals a series of strong squalls or cries
in an interjectional style, each more strange and
grotesque than the previous one. My father on these
occasions sometimes amused himself by imitating these
cries as she uttered them, which seemed to excite her
ingenuity in the production of them to the uttermost.
As a last resource she always had recourse to a very
peculiar one, which completely baffled him; upon
which, with a loud ha! ha! ha! she made a somersault
round her perch, swinging with her head downwards,
sprung from one part of the cage to another, and
tossed a bit of wood she used as a toy over her head
in the most exulting triumph, repeating at intervals
the inimitable cry, followed by peals of ha! ha! ha!
to the great amusement of all present.
Allied to emulation is resentment, of which the following, communicated
to me by a correspondent, may be taken as an example. If space permitted
I could give confirmatory cases:--
One day the cat and the parrot had a quarrel. I think
the cat had upset Polly's food, or something of that
kind; however, they seemed all right again. An hour or
so after, Polly was standing on the edge of the table;
she called out in a tone of extreme affection, 'Puss,
puss, come then--come then, pussy.' Pussy went and
looked up innocently enough. Polly with her beak
seized a basin of milk standing by, and tipped the
basin and all its contents over the cat; then chuckled
diabolically, of course broke the basin, and half
drowned the cat.
Several strange but mutually corroborative stories seem to show
cherished vindictiveness on the part of storks. Thus, in Captain Brown's
book there occurs an account of a tame stork which lived in the college
yard at Tübingen,--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account