no JOTTINGS ABOUT BIRDS. 



selection of these that my remarks will be prin- 

 cipally confined. Perhaps the most interesting 

 sounds uttered by birds are those which may be 

 aptly classed as warning notes — cries that are 

 intended to inspire an enemy with terror, and in- 

 variably sounded by weak and defenceless species. 

 One of the most familiar instances occurring to me 

 is the snake-like hissing produced by various species 

 of Titmice and the Wryneck upon being disturbed 

 in their nests. These birds breed in holes, are 

 defenceless creatures, and exposed to an increased 

 disadvantage by being confined in a cavity from 

 which there is no escape. The warning hiss, there- 

 fore, must often save them or their eggs from the 

 attacks of mice or other predaceous creatures, which 

 have an instinctive dread of snakes. Another 

 instance is furnished bv tlie Sons; Thrush and the 

 Missel-Thrush. The former species is by no 

 means a pugnacious bird, but when its young are 

 threatened it flies to and fro, uttering a harsh, 

 grating cry, which is apt to mislead an enemy and 

 inspire it with fear. The Missel-Thrush is, how- 

 ever, a pugnacious species, able to drive off any 

 small enemv, but there can be no doubt that its 

 exceedingly rasping notes are uttered to increase 

 the sense of dread, and render the bird more 



