Budgies, budgies, budgies. Beautiful and cheeky, delightful and enchanting, wild or tamed, budgerigars are Australia's gift to the bird world. They know how to count, can grasp simple grammar, and have incredible memory. They're masters of mimicry. They dance and they yawn. They've been coveted by royals, been companions to the great and famous as well as to grannies in suburban kitchens around the world. They've been painted by masters, rendered in the finest porcelain, been bred artificially in test tubes, and depicted on postage stamps of more than 30 nations. Their image has been used to sell everything from whisky to laundry detergent. Surprising, charming, and occasionally alarming, is the book that at last opens the cage door on the incredible story of the little bird that grew.