Budgerigar : how a brave, chatty and colourful little Aussie bird stole the world's heart / Sarah Harris & Don Baker.

Includes bibliographical references.

A companion to the great -- Unbeknown to early tourists -- John Roach, the scoundrel bird-stuffer -- The goulded cage -- Birds in hand -- Further adventures of a bird-stuffer -- Budgerigar dreaming -- How ornithologists tell it -- Ship ahoy! -- Feathers fly -- Mon petit parakeet -- Of peas and Japanese -- Sick as a parrot -- By royal command -- The sealed section -- When duty calls -- The cult of the budgie -- Budgezilla -- It's showtime! -- Smuggled budgies and dark deeds -- Doing bird and other therapeutic uses -- Still call Australia home -- Sooths and sayers -- Famous fanciers -- Spinning around -- Wild thing.

They sing and dance, and yawn as contagiously as humans. They are masters of mimicry. They grasp simple grammar, can count to six and have memories that belie their size. They've been coveted by royals and been companions to the great and famous as well as grannies in suburban kitchens around the world. They've been painted by masters, rendered in the finest porcelain and graced fashionable hats and earrings of the highest order. Their image has been used to sell whisky, stamps and laundry detergent and everything in between. Beautiful and cheeky, delightful and enchanting, wild or tamed budgerigars are Australia's gift to the bird world.