 What is so unique about the cockatoos on this planet?
What with red-spot fever, talking cockatoos and flagpole trees, I was running in circles—especially since Grannie became twins every now and then. [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Planet Stories Spring 1945. We had left the offices of Interstellar Voice three days ago, Earth time, and now as the immense disc of Jupiter flamed across the sky, entered the outer limits of the Baldric. They rose straight up like enormous cat-tails, with only a melon-shaped protuberance at the top to show they were a form of vegetation. He could be excused this time, however, for this was only our third day on Jupiter's Eighth Moon, and the country was still strange to us. Blood-and-thunder as these books are, however, they have one redeeming feature—authenticity of background. It's no use to the people of Earth but of untold value on Mars. I'm not up on the scientific reasons, but it seems that life on the red planet has developed with a supersonic method of vocal communication. Then it was found that this ore, Acoustix, revitalized their sounding apparatus, and the rush was on." "There are two principal forms of life in the Baldric; flagpole trees and a species of ornithoid resembling cockatoos. So now here we were at the outer reaches of the Baldric, four travelers on foot with only the barest necessities in the way of equipment and supplies. "What I found," said the cockatoo in a very human voice. The cockatoo repeated my last statement again, then rose on its short legs, flapped its wings once and soared off into the sky. Xartal, the Martian illustrator, already had a notebook in his hands and was sketching a likeness of the creature. We saw more silver cockatoos and more flagpole trees. Above us, the great disc of Jupiter began to descend toward the horizon. For some time I had fixed my gaze on a dot in the sky which I supposed to be a high-flying cockatoo. Apparently these adjustments moved planes or fins on the kite and accounted for the car's ability to move in any direction. "We pay our men high wages and give them excellent living conditions with a vacation on Callisto every year. "They walk out into the Baldric," he continued, "and nothing can stop them. By the way, there's a cockatoo eyrie ahead of us." Fully two hundred cockatoos were perched upon it.
 They are able to physically mimic any picture.
 They are able to copy speech.  They live in abundance in the Baldric, despite it being a dangerous area.  They are identical to Earth parrots, despite being on a different planet.  They are able to physically mimic any picture.