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原文来源于http://www.mynahbird.com/articles/talk/talk.html。
为方便懂英语的朋友自行阅读，我把原文复制在此。
Training Your Mynah to Talk
- Kathy Butterfield -
Hill Mynahs are capable of mimicking any voice or sound they hear. Java Hill
Mynahs and Greater Indian Hill Mynahs are the most popular mynahs kept as pets. Java Hills are the larger of the two and have a louder voice. Both are excellent talkers, capable of learning as many words and phrases as the well known African Grey parrot. Hill mynahs are considered better talkers than the African Grey parrots for their voice. Mynahs are able to imitate any human voice, and talk as clearly as any human. I have learned that a mynah will talk in what ever voice it prefers and will talk when it chooses! One of ours uses a deep tone of voice at times, and other times will sound different.
Our two Greater Indian Hill Mynahs, Howard and Holly have developed a vocabulary of over 100 words and phrases. Some days I turn the television or stereo on for them to listen to when they are going to be alone for awhile. Or we turn on the tutoring device we have that records my own voice, which I play for my birds a couple of times a week. Sometimes I record words and phrases that they already know, just for review. It breaks up the monotony of having silence throughout the day when no one else is home. Please don\';t expect a recording device to do all the work for you in training, because it is important to bond with your bird and give it personal attention.
If your bird will stay perched on your hand outside the cage, you can use this opportunity for a talking session. Whether its inside or outside the cage, during a lesson, talk to your bird and repeat the word or phrase you want it to learn, giving it time between repetitions to think about what it\';s hearing. Allow time for your bird to to repeat what you are saying. Continue the lesson for about 15 minutes. Do this a couple of times a day.
A bad habit to teach a mynah is to whistle. African Greys are very good at learning to whistle tunes and are quite satisfied with keeping their whistles to a limit, but I do not recommend trying to teach a mynah to whistle tunes or anything else. It\';s just not a good idea to whistle to a mynah bird. You don\';t want to encourage a mynah to whistle for it can become quite annoying, and it can be ear-piercing. You can count on your mynah to occasionally do some whistling on its own and you will become annoyed at times. If you know you cannot handle this at all, then I don\';t recommend getting a mynah bird. Some noise goes along with owning a mynah. They get excited over things and you need to handle it by looking into the cause for it and try your best not let it get to you. Sometimes just covering the cage for a few minutes will stop the whistling - it depends on why the bird is doing it. Maybe you just got something out of the fridge and your bird is excited in hopes it will be getting its favorite treat; maybe it is in need of some clean water for drinking or bathing; maybe it just wants some personal attention from you; or just to have some freedom out of the cage for a little while to hop around and explore. If you be observant, you may find the whistles are justified - well, at least to the mynah they are.
Begin saying \"hello\" to your bird as soon as you get it home. It will start talking by making little sounds and you cannot make out what it is. It may make sounds such as \"eh\". It will soon begin its attempt to say \"hello\". You need to start letting your bird hear that first word even before it is able to begin speaking. If you wait until your bird is several months old to start training, the first word may seem it will never come. The older a mynah is that hasn\';t been trained to speak words, the harder it is to get one to do it. That doesn\';t mean it will never talk. It is up to the individual bird. You may think you are trying to no avail to teach your bird to talk, but one just doesn\';t know for sure - it can surprise you some day, so don\';t stop talking to your bird. A mynah can still be an enjoyable pet even if it chooses not to speak words or phrases. Most will, at the very least learn to mimic some pretty interesting sounds. Some continue to learn words, phrases and sounds throughout their whole life, but the more rapid learning phase seems to be during the first couple of years. Usually the easiest and first thing to teach one is to say \"hello\". You do need to be careful what you say around a mynah because it will decide what it wants to repeat. Usually a mynah prefers to repeat words or phrases when they are heard with enthusiasm and excitement. A baby mynahs voice is a little raspy at first and as it tries to repeat words it hears, it may sound like something different than what you expect. It may even be trying to say something entirely different than what you are wanting it to say. They don\';t always end up learning to say exactly what we want them too. Sometimes words will sound broken or mixed up, but with practice and from hearing the phrases repeated, the mynah learns to speak the words more clearly. When training your bird, use expression in your voice. It can make a difference in getting your mynahs attention.
\"Hello\" was the first phrase I began to work on when training Howard. That seems to be the easiest thing to get a bird to say. His first \"Hello\" was raspy and broken but quickly became clearer with practice. The next phrase he said was \"Ah-Ah-Ah Mynah bird\". It must have stayed in his little memory from hearing both his breeder and myself say it to him when he was still being hand fed. He was such a sweet little baby. After he began saying hello, I only had to say \"Ah-Ah-Ah Mynah bird\" to him a couple of times during a lesson. To this day, Howard still loves to say it and our little Holly girl has learned this phrase as well. And just like Howard, she also learned to say something that I said while hand feeding her. During the feedings, she would take a bite of food, then turn her back to me as if she was shy. So I would say to her, \"Come on Holly, come on baby, its ok.\" This is one of her favorite sayings still today, and she began saying after she learned \"hello\".
The personal bond you create with your bird from the beginning is important. It will need to feel comfortable and secure with you and the surroundings. You\';ll have a better chance of your bird becoming a talker by purchasing a domestic, hand fed baby from a breeder. I had not hand fed a baby mynah before. With proper instruction, I did very well. Most breeders now will not sell unweaned mynahs, so usually you cannot get one younger than 6 or 7 weeks old now, but that is still plenty young enough to begin training your mynah.
Baby mynahs are sweet and cuddly. They like to be snuggled under your chin and talked to softly. Some will out grow this after awhile, but our Holly still loves it and she is now 5 years old. Howard will let me hold him but he has to be in the right mood - it has to be his idea - he prefers to be independent. He was more babyish than Holly when we had him shipped to us at 3 weeks old. Holly was sweet and petite but was ready to rumble and fight for what she wanted if Howard gave her any lip. We had each baby shipped to us at 3 weeks old but Howard was first, one year before Holly. All Howard did was eat, sleep and poop - just like a newborn baby. He slept in a little cardboard box I lined with soft cloth and paper towels. Howard couldn\';t fly or even perch yet when he arrived. We even had to do foot exercises to strengthen his little feet so he would hold on tighter when learning to perch. He is quite independent now at 6 years old. He doesn\';t like to be cuddled too much now and when he hops to perch on my hand, he sometimes thinks he should bite me first just to remind me that he doesn\';t like me touching him anywhere but his feet. He thinks I\';m going to get too mushy with him I guess. When Holly arrived a year later, I thought I would be doing the same routine as far as her eating, sleeping and pooping and sleeping in a cardboard box until she was ready for a cage. Well, she flew even before she left the breeder. When she arrived, she could already fly, perch and definitely wanted a nest box - wanted nothing to do with sleeping in a cardboard box. She didn\';t even sleep as much as Howard did at first. Holly still like\';s to be held anytime, loves snuggles and hugs and kisses. She comes to us on her own anytime we want her to, in fact she will go to anyone anytime! We treat our mynahs both the same but it goes to show they have different personalities. Both are excellent talkers, and we give them a lot of attention.
The activity in the home has a lot to do with the amount of talking our birds do. They love our dog, Scruffy. Howard says \"I love Scruffy\" and \"I\';ve got a Scruffy\". When the dog gets a little rambunctious, you will hear Howard say \"Quit it Scruffy!\", \"Scruffy no!\", and Holly will say \"Stop that!\" and \"Shame on you!\". She also says that to Howard when he does a shrill whistle. This shows that Mynahs really pick up on what is going on in the room, listen and remember how others react to a situation.
Mynahs are very intelligent birds and associate actions with phrases and sounds. When we head towards the door, either one of our birds will say \"You wanna go out?\". They also say it when they hear the jingling of car keys and know that our next step will be to leave the house. When it is Scruffy that goes to the front door, Howard says \"Scruffy, you wanna go out?\".
By purchasing a baby mynah, or even an older mynah that has already become talker, you will more than likely get to enjoy the experience of owning a mynah to the max. Keep in mind that a mynah that does not turn out to be a talker can still make a wonderful and enjoyable pet. There are a few owners that have purchased older Hill mynahs that were not given much attention as babies so they did not seem to be interested in mimicking anything but odd noises, but in spite of that, some have been known to surprised them with a few words or phrases, even though they were older. An older bird is less likely to learn to mimic what you want it to learn, and even the young ones can be that way. As I mentioned before, it is up to each individual bird.
Mynah birds have lots of personality and comical antics. I like to refer to them as little black feathered entertainment centers. But Holly refers to herself as a little black chicken stinker - In fact, if you see Holly\';s Video on the Multimedia page, you will hear her say \"I\';m a chicken stinker. I don\';t wanna stinker” |
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发表于 2005-1-18 10:18:03
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