Parrots I have Known

Ironically both of the parrots I have known were African Greys - grey with scarlet tails. And two very different temperaments.

The first - when I was a child - belonged to a Great-aunt who ran a pub. The story goes that she took the parrot (and cage) from a sailor in lieu of payment. Due to its language it ended up on a table by the window in the humungous pub kitchen. The delivery men always got well and truly sworn at! My Mum kept reminding me that its favourite saying was 'You old rat'.

The second I met in the 1990s and belonged to an American friend who smoked like a chimney - the parrot had a good line in coughs. Word of warning - birds (and presumably all pets) can develop cancer. Molly (I suspect it was probably called Mali after its country of origin) was a chatterbox but my friend was always puzzled by the amount of muttering she did. Until I pointed out that it is one thing to leave the television on to keep her company while he was at work, but quite another to keep the volume down low!

I don't have photos of any African Greys but these are ones taken in Singapore.