Old parrot says final 'Cheerio'

EXETER, England, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- The British owner of a 55-year-old parrot said her pet died after uttering an appropriate final word, "Cheerio."

Nina Morgan, 89, of Exeter, England, said her African Grey parrot, Tarbu, uttered his final word as a goodnight message and she knew something was wrong the following morning when he was too weak to spout his usual greeting of "Hello, my darling," The Sun reported Friday.

"He was a very intelligent bird and very clever. We never taught him to talk, he picked everything up," Morgan said. "The night before he died I went up to bed and he said, 'Cheerio' to me from his cage. It was the last thing that he said. He sounded very weak and I did think, 'oh dear, he is not well' and had this feeling about it.

"The next morning he was on the top perch of his cage with both of his wings hanging down. I talked to him as usual and he gave me one or two little squeaks," she said. "I went to make a cup of tea and when I came back he was dead at the bottom of the cage. I cried for two days and I just miss him so much."