212 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS 



several ways governed by them. Another species 

 of the same family, but larger, is named "guid- 

 guid" and by the English it is called the barking 

 bird. The name is apt, for the most skilled ear 

 would mistake its bark in the forest for the yelping 

 of a small dog. 



Darwin says : "In my rough notes I describe the 

 strange noises, which, although frequently heard 

 within these gloomy forests, yet scarcely disturb the 

 general silence. The yelping of the guid-guid, and 

 the sudden whew-whew of the cheucau, some- 

 times come from afar off, and sometimes from close 

 at hand; the little black wren of Tierra del Fuego 

 occasionally adds its cry; the creeper follows the 

 intruder screaming and twittering; the humming- 

 bird may be seen every now and then darting from 

 side to side, and emitting, like an insect, its shrill 

 chirp; lastly, from the top of some lofty tree, the 

 indistinct but plaintive note of the white-tufted ty- 

 rant — flycatcher — may be noticed." 



The bittern mimics the bellowing of a bull. This 

 strange sound is produced by the mimic in an un- 

 usual way : he partially buries his beak in the water 

 as he bellows. The South African drongo shrikes 

 mimic many strange and weird sounds of the for- 

 est; while the ibis screams like a child being tor- 

 tured in the most fiendish manner. At first the 



