Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 183, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 August 1911 — TALKING CANARY WINS $500 [ARTICLE]

TALKING CANARY WINS $500

New Yorkers Lose Wager When Philadelphian Boasts of Remarkable Attainments of Bird.

Atlantic City.—A wager of SSOO changed hands In the Hotel Fredonla when a canary bird owned by Mrs. Peter Kearney of Philadelphia, who is spending the summer at that hostelry, repeated after her in parrot fashion a number of phrases. Included among the visitors at the hotel are two bird fanciers from New York and J. A Clark of Philadelphia, who had heard the bird on several occasions, told the New Yorkers of -the remarkable attainments of the canary. When one of them scoffed at the idea and offered to wager |SOO that the apparent talking of the bird was nothing more than clever ventriloquism on the part of the owner, a test was arranged and, in addition to the hotel guests, a number of newspaper men were Invited. The canary, which answers to the name of “Pete,” sang for a time and then, in response to the coaching of Mrs. Kearney, repeated in a shrill tone, “Pretty little birdie,” “Pretty little Pete,” so clear that the bird fanciers were convinced and paid over their wager to Clark.