It is nearly as tall as
an ostrich, and has beautiful soft feathers, though not as beautiful as
the ostrich's. But the most curious point in the emu is,--it has no
tongue. You may suppose, therefore, that it is neither a singing bird,
nor a talking bird; it only makes a little noise in its throat. But if
_it_ is silent, there are numbers of parrots, and cockatoos, to fill the
air with their screams. In England, these birds are thought a great deal
of, but in Australia, they are killed to make into pies, or into soup.
Parrot-pie and cockatoo-soup, are common dishes there. However, many of
the parrots and cockatoos, are caught by the blacks, and sold to the
English, who send them to England in the ships.
There are not such singing birds in Australia, as there are here. Though
there is a robin red-breast there, he does not sing as sweetly as he does
here. But there are _laughing_ birds in Australia. There is a bird called
the "laughing jackass." He laughs very loud three times a day. He begins
in the morning;--suddenly a hoarse loud laugh is heard,--then another,
then another,--till a whole troop of birds seem laughing all together,
and go on laughing for a few minutes;--and then they are all quiet again.
Such a noise must awaken many a sleeper on his bed. At noon the laugh is
heard again. At evening there is another general fit of laughter. These
birds are not like children, who laugh at no particular hour, but often
twenty times a day.
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