CHAPTER VI 

 THE POND AND THE LOCH 



(Moorhen, Coot, Water-Rail) 



THERE is a peculiar similarity in the sounds uttered 

 by creatures which inhabit watery surroundings. For 

 example, the ordinary call-note of the water-rail is 

 identical with the croak of a frog, and in the spring of the 

 year, when the frog chorus reaches its zenith about the 

 habitat of this bird, it is difficult to tell whether a given 

 sound is that of a frog near at hand or of a water-rail in the 

 distance. Many birds of swampy surroundings are 

 marvellous ventriloquists, and I have more than once 

 located them, as I thought, to within a small patch of 

 rushes, only to find, on exploring the place, that they were 

 not there — were, in fact, a considerable distance away. 

 The sound now seems to be at one's feet, then to left 

 or right — so soft and elusive that it is impossible to judge 

 its distance correctly. 



I am of the opinion that the coot and the dab-chick 

 also " mimic '' the croaking of frogs, but have never 

 been able definitely to prove this, while as a further 

 example, the common *' kerk " call of the moorhen is 

 identical to a certain note uttered by the otter, or vice 

 versa. It would seem, indeed, that the language of 

 wild birds is very considerably influenced by the more 

 familiar sounds of their environment, the corncrake being 

 a marvellous illustration, though this curious and interest- 

 ing state of affairs is much more noticeable in tropical and 

 semi-tropical swamps than it is in our own country. 



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