SIDE I.IGHTS ON BIRDS 



the finer grades of feeling are set forth less ob- 

 trusively but none the less clearly. Listen to 

 the hen partridge with her young family about 

 her before the idea of danger has entered her 

 mind. In a series of soft, inward notes she 

 gently prattles to her little ones— a sort of baby- 

 talk known to mothers the world over : now her 

 tone hardens as she chides and recalls a small 

 wanderer who strays too far from the maternal 

 eye. Later, when the covey is broken in the 

 wide turnip field, she remains silent for a time, 

 but directly peace is restored, one hears a re- 

 strained, gently reiterated note, differing essen- 

 tially from the cry of alarm with which she rises 

 calling her circle together again. Compare this 

 note for the re-assembling of the chicks with the 

 one she uses in spring to signal to her mate, and it 

 will be seen that, although the notes are the same, 

 she marks the differences in the circumstances by 

 a change in the intonation. Take the case of the 

 hen grouse, too. In the early morning, usually 

 just about daybreak, a faint metallic cry, utterly 

 un-grouse-like in quality, may be heard from the 

 dark expanses of heather. It is an invitation 

 low and unobtrusive, yet it will awaken a response 

 half-a-league away, and with a loud, masterful 

 guer-r-r-go-bac go-bac, the dark form of the cock 

 may be marked as he hurtles against the sky. 



In the poultry yards sounds clearly expressive 

 of a variety of ideas may be made out with ease. 

 The crow of the cock has greeting and recognition 

 in it ; the loud announcement of the laying hen 

 conveys the suggestion of triumph and rejoicing 

 in which the other birds sympathetically join ; 

 the complacent twittering of a chicken in the 

 presence of a fly changes to a note of fear and 

 anger when a wasp is introduced. Parrots are 

 said to repeat human words without any apprecia- 



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