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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



dowed with memory, affection, and intelligence, 

 he can only express his joy by sharp, short ex- 

 pirations of air through the glottis. Howling is 

 a prolonged note in the pharynx, excited by deep 

 grief or pain. Yet they in common with many 

 other animals can communicate with each other 

 in a marvelous manner when they wish to or- 

 ganize an expedition. A dead bullock was lying 

 in a waste far from all habitations, when a solitary 

 clog, attracted by the smell, came and fed upon 

 it; immediately he returned to the village and 

 called together his acquaintances. In less than 

 an hour the bones were picked clean by the 

 troop. 



Opportunities for studying the language of 

 wild animals are rare: they fly from man, and 

 when in captivity they become neatly silent, only 

 uttering a few cries or murmurs. Travelers have 

 sometimes been able to watch the graceful move- 

 ments of the smaller African apest Living in 

 the branches of trees, they descend with great 

 prudence. An old male, who is the chief, climbs 

 to the top and looks all around; if satisfied, he 

 utters guttural sounds to tranquillize his band ; 

 but, if he perceive danger, there is a special cry, 

 an advertisement which does not deceive, and 

 immediately they all disperse. On one occasion 

 a naturalist watched a solitary monkey as he dis- 

 covered an orange-tree laden with fruit. With- 

 out returning, he uttered short cries; his com- 

 panions understood the signal, and in a moment 

 they were collected under the tree, only too happy 

 to share its beautiful fruit. Some kinds possess 

 a curious appendage, a sort of aerial pouch, 

 which opens into the interior of the larynx and 

 makes a tremendous sound. These howling apes, 

 also called Stentors, inhabit the deepest forests 

 of the New World ; and their cries, according to 

 Humboldt, may be heard at the distance of one 

 or two miles. 



If it be ever possible to observe the play of 

 the larynx of animals during the emission of 

 sounds, the subject will be a very curious one. 

 The difficulty seems almost insurmountable, as 



their good-will must be enlisted ; yet M. Mandl, 

 full of confidence in his use of the laryngoscope, 

 does not despair. After man, among animated 

 Nature, the birds occupy the highest rank in Na- 

 ture's concerts ; they make the woods, the gar- 

 dens, and the fields, resound with their merry 

 warbles. Cuvier discovered the exact place from 

 which their note issues. They possess a double 

 larjnx, the o»e creating the sounds, the other re- 

 sounding them : naturalists call the apparatus a 

 drum. Thus two lips form the vocal cords, which 

 are stretched or relaxed by a very complicated 

 action of the muscles. This accounts for the 

 immense variety of sounds among birds, replying 

 to the diversity in the structure of the larynx. 



The greater number of small birds have cries 

 of joy or fear, appeals for help, cries of war. All 

 these explosions of voice borrow the sounds of 

 vowels and consonants, and show how easy and 

 natural is articulation among them. Those spe- 

 cies which are distinguished as song-birds have 

 a very complicated vocal apparatus. For the 

 quality of tone, power, brilliancy, and sweetness, 

 the nightingale stands unrivaled ; yet it does 

 not acquire this talent without long practice, the 

 young ones being generally mediocre. The par- 

 rots which live in large numbers under the bright- 

 est suns, have a love for chattering which cap- 

 tivity does not lessen. Attentive to every voice 

 and noise, they imitate them with extraordinary 

 facility ; and the phenomenon of their articulat- 

 ing words is still unexplained. It is supposed 

 that there is a peculiar activity in the upper 

 larynx. As a rule, they attach no meaning to 

 what they say ; but there are exceptions. When 

 very intelligent and well instructed, these birds — 

 such as Mr. Truefitt's late parrot, an account of 

 which appeared in this Journal in 18*74 — can 

 give a suitable answer to certain questions. 



Our notes on this interesting study come to a 

 close. Man is well served by his voice ; words 

 are the necessity of every-day life ; singing is its 

 pleasure and recreation, whether the performers 

 are human beings or birds. — Chambers' 1 s Journal. 



