Budgie blues for lost China

A Chinese meal is up for grabs for the return of China

The owner of an escaped talking budgerigar which can recite a Chinese take-away menu has made an urgent appeal for sightings of his feathered friend.

China, the yellow budgie, flew from her cage in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, more than a week ago.

One of his favourite expressions is 'Rice or Chips'

Owner Paul Dainton

Her owner Paul Dainton, 57, believes members of the public will recognise his bird - especially when she opens her beak.

"The bird says things in Chinese and in pidgin English," he said.

"One of his favourite expressions is 'Rice or Chips' and 'Ello what you want'."

Prawn crackers

Mr Dainton was given the bird at a motorway service station about a year ago and told it had come from a Chinese take-away in Manchester after the health authorities said the owner could not keep it in the shop.

He put the bird with his own budgies in an aviary suspended in a tree at his home.

But he left the cage door open by mistake and China flew away.

Since then she has been spotted several times in the Wakefield area.

An angler even tried to coax him out of a tree only to be met with the reply: "What you want? Prawn cracker?"

Downcast

Mr Dainton said China can recite a whole take-away menu and say a few words in Cantonese.

"It's great to hear her talk with a Chinese accent and repeat things she obviously picked up in the take-away in Manchester," he said.

"Other birds say hello, but China always says `What you want?'"

China's mate Hung Lo is feeling a little down on his own and Mr Dainton says he is anxious to get the bird back before the start of the colder weather.

"She can only survive in the wild for a couple of weeks," he said.

The reward for finding the budgie is a Chinese take-away for two.