State

г Need Any Parrots? IF .you do. II. /.. Furr of Churlollo. is (ho man nhom you should ronlarl. lie make*, annual (rips (o Moxiro and brings bark hundreds of parro(s (o (his rounlry. I К YOB were to make a catalogue if the strange buinru» and pr-v- f mv ion. of North < '«roliniati*. niewhere m Г thr top of lhi< lilt •uM hair to смог thr entry : H. Furr. Char An the im|-jrtj drrd parrot.* each fj of adventure and roman n™ for Ur. Ft For initantr, Mr. Furr who nl retail pet ami ***d at Charlotte — pa to the wild* of Mexico. ha* the young bird* caught in thr bill roDDtrT, г rate* thran, pu theaa bark to the* feeder, and thee* ha* to Ware them in quinatin» foe II day*, after which they ran l< •hipl»«l on to Charlotte by express. That U the program ho ha* fol¬ lowed for the pa»t three year*, with hi* annual importation* running up to «ото ZOO parrot*, which i* ju*t alnul the supply that hi* .tore re¬ quire* for a rear. But now be ha. dangling before Hy JOHN W. IIUIIIIA Hr now make* hi* annual trading trip without the nid of an interpreter. The few word* of S|>anish he know*, pi u* the diiplay of money, doe* the ,.d. If be get. stuck be ha* e*tab- li.hr-1 a friendship with a Spaniarl who .peak* English. and who gladly help* oat. lie ha. found parrot buying good anywhere felwren Tampico and Vic¬ toria. Both yellow head* and red head, can I- had. but the yellow heads make the le*t talker* i nd hr in*i*t* on hi* catcher* bringing in that variety. The iiarrot* ran he had for only a brief period in the early fall and then I her hate winged their war oS into the iild. and are alrm-t uneatch- to .apply them with talking bird*, ami he is about to go into thr matter from a wholesale angle. How It Suited Three rear* ago Mr. Furr needed parrot, for hi* pet .tore and hr couldn't buy them. He knew that the «м point «here parroU propa¬ gated in the wild .late «». Mexico. So he and a friend bitched an auto trailer on the back of the Furr car ami they headed *outh. At Tampico, Mexico, lit the fool of the mountains, they found Mex¬ icans who would catch parrot*. Through an interpreter they had ukrn with them they arranged for an initial catch of 10» birds The*» were to he the young one*, ju.t ready to leare the nr.t- In that •ret ion the rapture of 100 .uch par¬ rot. U not the hard job that might he imagined became they populate the mountains by thousand*. Importer Furr and hi* friend headed home with the cargo. And it then that they found out about At the right is Mr. Furr, parrot im- Cter. The other young man is к Allen, who annually accom¬ panies tho bird man to tb« moun¬ tainous section ol Mexico on partol buying trips. at the border я bJi- and Utterly The heavier! loos in ■hipmrnt ami handling ha* been lb bird* out of a lot of 100. Mr. Furr .aid. Mr. Furr make* no studied eilort to teach hi* |*arrot* to talk. They learn that quickly rough, be find*. If they Mar in the ilnr* for two or three week* before they are *old they invariably are talkmg hy that lime. The bird, pick up the human »uml. a* a matter of imitation— something like the sou nils a mocking bird make. the potman think*. 1'ngcd in hi. Charlotte) pet .tore ami hearing hu¬ man voice* continuously, and haring customer* talk directly to them oc- could not Ware Meaico ami ofeeiaU on tho other side who .aid they could not enter the United State. Finally nn agreement wot made whereby the bin!* were to I-1 left in quarantine for 11 days and then -if no sign of the ferer bug* could be found- ther might rosne on to Charlotte. Mr. Furr arranged for the car* of the bird, and their later shipment by That wa* one of several Iruon* he ho* since learned in the burinn*. Catches Them Young Now he know* be mu*t go early in the fall before the young bird, get too big to tame ami too wild to raleh pick up the Frequently •hipped on f their lid» Ио£ек!у Meaico following their liday quarantine period Mr. Furr finds them talking Spnni.li. with word* picked up from the Mexican* who tended then, in the |*riod of delay. A number of the parrots, •l-akiug both SpanUh and Kngli*h. • I I* it a pr Well, th birds at Tampico for two рем* each -about 50 rent*. When you buy that same bird here some week* or month, later he cost* between «10 and «15. Of course, nil that differ¬ ence is by no пиан* profit. There i* the expense of the trip and the ship (Ca.fe.narf И page l*«lf«)