It’s worth buying the catalogue. It outlines the story of our 2,500 year fascination with this extravagant creature: a tale that dates back to the era of Alexander the Great, who, having conquered the Persian Empire, marched his army across the Hindu Kush and into the Punjab. From there he returned with a novel pet: a small green bird with a rose-pink collar and blue cheeks, to which he subsequently lent his moniker. It came to be known as the Alexandrine parakeet.

By Roman times, Verdi tells us, parrots had become well known in the West. Because of their ability to speak and perform, the Ancient world regarded them, he says, “as creatures capable of breaching the dividing line between nature and culture”. And, according to legend, when Julius Caesar returned triumphant from the battle of Actium, he was greeted by a parrot squawking “Ave Caesar” — proof not only of its acumen, apparently, but also of its prophetic powers.