174 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



calls mean somethiu'. Every gunner knows tliat. 

 Yo' can decoy birds with one cry an' startle 'em 

 away with another. ' ' 



** Crows talk, anyway," the boy declared. 



Bull nodded his head agreeingly. 



''There's a fellow who's found out thirty words 

 in the Crow language," Shan declared. ''John 

 Burroughs says that birds ' have a language that is 

 very expressive and is easily to be translated into 

 the human tongue. ' Fowls have several different 

 notes. The Chickadee is a chatterbox, and the 

 Blue Jay rattles along like a talking machine. 

 Likely enough, birds only say what they feel, 

 'cause we can't tell if they really think. So, Bull, 

 besides their play, I want to get so that I under- 

 stand their talk. And," he added, "heaps of the 

 birds use attitudes. A bird talks with his head, 

 his tail and his wings, as much as he does with his 

 throat. On a photograph I can get all those talk 

 movements. 



"Of course," the boy went on, "I know I can't 

 learn bird talk, and if I could, I wouldn't be able 

 to talk back. But I can learn a lot about birds if 

 I can watch them close enough. 



"Take yourself, Bull. If I had a photograph 

 of everything you do, all summer and winter long, 



