diff --git a/code/modules/mob/living/simple_animal/parrot.dm b/code/modules/mob/living/simple_animal/parrot.dm
index 5a1dffc3c42..4336a7142b4 100644
--- a/code/modules/mob/living/simple_animal/parrot.dm
+++ b/code/modules/mob/living/simple_animal/parrot.dm
@@ -923,7 +923,7 @@
 	S["longestsurvival"]	>> longest_survival
 	S["longestdeathstreak"] >> longest_deathstreak
 
-	if(isnull(speech_buffer))
+	if(!islist(speech_buffer))
 		speech_buffer = list()
 
 /mob/living/simple_animal/parrot/Poly/proc/Write_Memory()