Naturalis historia 10.42.117

10.42.117

super omnia humanas voces reddunt, psittaci quidem etiam sermocinantes . India hanc avem mittit, siptacen vocat , viridem toto corpore, torque tantum miniato in cervice distinctam. imperatores salutat et quae accipit verba pronuntiat , in vino praecipue lasciva. capiti eius duritia eadem quae rostro. hoc , cum loqui discit, ferreo verberatur radio; non sentit aliter ictus. cum devolat, rostro se excipit, illi innititur levioremque ita se pedum infirmitati facit.

CHAP. 58.—BIRDS WHICH SPEAK-THE PARROT. But above all, there are some birds that can imitate the human voice; the parrot, for instance, which can even converse. India sends us this bird, which it calls by the name of "sittaces;" the body is green all over, only it is marked with a ring of red around the neck. It will duly salute an emperor, and pronounce the words it has heard spoken; it is rendered especially frolicsome under the influence of wine. Its head is as hard as its beak; and this, when it is being taught to talk, is beaten with a rod of iron, for otherwise it is quite insensible to blows. When it lights on the ground it falls upon its beak, and by resting upon it makes itself all the lighter for its feet, which are naturally weak.