It is not the word he speaks that is of interest; he might have been taught another, and it would have been the same; but it is the tone.  In this case, too, the articulation gives an easier clew to the meaning the bird seeks to express, having a meaning according to the manner of pronouncing it, than any isolated, simply musical sound, like the song of the nightingale, canary bird, and warbler.  This became evident to me, not from observing animals for a few moments without seeing them again, but from studying them continuously.

Jaco did not like solitude, and was talkative and fond of being caressed, like all of his kind.  One day, when there was no one in the country house, all having gone out into the garden or the fields, I heard him saying over what few words he knew, in different inflections.  I went quietly into the room where he was, without being seen; but he heard my steps, although I walked in very cautiously, hoping to surprise him.  He ceased his chatter, listened, and, after a silence, pronounced “Jaco” in a low tone, drawing out the end of the word.  He listened again, and repeated the word in the same tone; then, after another silence, repeated it with a rise of the voice.  I continued observing him, and, as he heard no one, he raised his tone gradually, repeating the same word, and ended at last with a genuine cry of distress.  The people ran in from without, supposing something had happened to him.  He then repeated his name in a lower tone, which seemed to indicate his satisfaction at finding his isolation ended.  I went in myself, and his prattle unmistakably betrayed his gladness at being no longer alone.

Is there not in this an act of real intelligence?  While alone, the parrot entertained himself by talking; but when he heard a sound he hoped at first to see some one come; and when no one answered him, he raised his voice, as a person would do who calls, and, getting no reply, cried out louder and louder till he was heard and answered.  The meaning of the differences of intonation is as evident in this case as in that of the drunken man.  A parrot raised in the South had learned to swear in the local patois.  Being fond of coffee, he was sometimes given a spoonful, which he would come awkwardly up to the table to drink with his master.  One day the master, not thinking of his bird, had already added cognac to his coffee, and gave the parrot the accustomed spoonful.  The parrot took a swallow of it, and, in his surprise at the novel taste, raised his head and repeated the oath in a tone that excited laughter in all who were present.  The cause of his surprise being discovered, he was soothed, and then took his usual ration with evident signs of contentment.  The mimicry of language in this case clearly represented the shade of the new impression he felt.