=Parrots=: If the parrot is for company get a gray African—they make the best talkers and are best tempered. For decoration get the scarlet-crested white fellows, or the yellow and green, or blue and scarlet and yellow. Treatment of either is the same; feed fruit, nuts, grain, a little meat, insects, bread, especially cornbread, and cereals cooked stiff. Parrots learn quickly to eat and drink with their owners. Coffee in moderation is good for them, but they must have water besides. Some thrive better for drinking milk; indeed, the creatures are almost uncannily human in many things. Let them bathe at discretion, provide also a dust bath. Have a roomy cage, a tall, branchy perch, and a hoop swing. Never tease nor tantalize; parrots are cross enough without; also jealous. Do not leave free in the room with a small child. Their beaks are cruelly sharp. Lacking insects, give small lumps of raw mutton fat. Keep everything about them very clean. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ XII IN EMERGENCIES =Chimney Blazes=: Smother blazing chimneys by throwing salt, damp if possible, on the fire, and setting something flat against the chimney breast. =Blazing Fat=: Throw on salt, sand, or ashes; water makes the flame fiercer. Prevent draughts if possible; keep doors and windows shut tight. Turn out oil or gas flames underneath, and keep everything inflammable away from the blaze. =Gas Leaks=: Open doors and windows, let accumulations blow out, then hunt for the broken pipe—not with a lamp or candle—and clap on it when found either a blanket of putty or flour dough wet very stiff. Tie in place with broad tape, then wrap with a cloth so as to withstand pressure. But first of all call for the repair man. With a leak undiscoverable, shut off from the rest of the house and leave windows wide open. =Asphyxiation=: Whether from gas or drowning, lay flat, the head a little higher; permit no crowding; resort to artificial respiration—lifting the arms and pressing on the chest systematically, holding the tongue out all the while; rub with alcohol, especially feet and hands; keep in air, and work gently but quickly. In cases of drowning, empty lungs of water first thing by laying face down over a bench or barrel and working the arms. =Fainting=: Lay flat, the head lower than the body, loosen clothes, especially about the neck, dash cold water gently in the face, hold ammonia under nostrils, rub wrists and temples with camphor or cologne water, and if the faint persists put mustard at the back of the neck and to the soles of the feet. Insensibility from shock or falling needs slightly different treatment. It may mean concussion; hence, let the head be highest and apply vigorous friction along the spine as well as to the extremities. Stimulate as soon as swallowing is possible, and move with caution.