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Perhaps, however, what most strikes the reader of this Treatise is the learning of the writer. He is familiar with his Aristotle, and quotes from Fabricius and other writers with much greater freedom than in the succinct and almost sententious treatise de motu Cordis et sanguinis. Some would have us believe that here, as in other cases, erudition was a clog upon genius. This question has been often discussed, and it has even been maintained that he is most likely to search out "the secrets of
vociferous joy on her return, answered her questions, flew to her, and aiding himself with beak and claws climbed up her dress to her shoulder, whence he walked down her arm and sat upon her hand. When bidden to discourse or to sing he was always ready, even in the dark. He would seat himself in my wife’s lap, and delight to be stroked and fondled, while a gentle movement of his wings and a soft murmur witnessed to the pleasure of his soul.
I always supposed he was a cock-bird, on account of the great excellence of his conversation and his singing.
At length, however, our parrot, who had lived many years in the enjoyment of excellent health, fell ill, and after a series of convulsive attacks, he, to our great sorrow, breathed out his life on his mistress's lap, where he had so often loved to lie.
On making a post-mortem examination, in order to ascertain the cause of death, I discovered an almost complete but unimpregnated and addled egg in the oviduct.—De Generatione, cap. v.
