In Chapter ten of Alice In wonderland She is holding a flamingo the reason she is holding the bird is because it was her croquet mallet. "Birds of a feather flock together" means that People are attracted to others who are like themselves, and it's the same thing with birds. The Dutchess is not really a friend or foe she is more of a mentor. A mock turtle is a turtle but really is not because it a "mock" turtle so kind of half a turtle. The reason the dutchess is preaching to Alice about morals is because there is always a moral to everything. no matter what you do there is always a moral. The reason that Alice thinks that pepper makes people hot is because pepper is hot and she thinks it transfers into peoples' emotion.