Arthur was bought on a whim sometime after I purchased my first house in Colorado. It was sometime in the fall of '94. He was a couple of months old. Arthur was a green cheeck conure. I believe that arthur, even though named a male name, was a female bird. I think that perhaps once Arthur realized this he became a mean bitter old bird. He started bitting any finger offered other than my own. Not hard mind you. Just enough to let you know how much you were appreciated. Arthur's favorite thing to do was to mimic Josey (my wife) saying "What are you doing?". The reason for this I believe is that Josey many a time would come to the computer room and ask this from the entry way. Arthur heard this so many times that he learned it. The only other mimicry that he learned is to whistle like my stepfather used to do when we would get lost or wanting to get our attention. We recorded the whistle on a tape and played it over and over again to him until he started doing it.

The manner of his death was quite gruesome. He was found laying on his side in the bottom of the cage. His eyes were slightly sunken. At first I thought that maybe he died because of a new can of bird food that he did not like. It turns out that the water botttle that I used to keep him hydrated was at fault. The kind of bottle that I used was the type that has the red ball at the end of the tube. Arthur would gently push it and get a couple of drops of water at a time. The last time I filled the bottle I must have not made sure that the red ball was all the way down to the end of the tube. It had gotten stuck about 1/2" into the tube. There was a little protein, calcium or bacteria buildup that kept the ball from droping to the end. I did not have this deposit analyzed. My wife had been in the room just the night before he was found dead. He was trying, in his own way, to say "EMPTY!" His bath water was also empty, which I am sure that he had resorted to days before and carefuly rationed it. He was quite agitated the last few days. He did not go quietly. Poor Arthur.

I would advise against getting a green cheeck conure as a pet. Arthur was mean. He squacked loudly and incesantly. It hurt my ear drums.