NOISY BIRDS 



jA N article on the subject of noisy birds re- 

 /^L cently appeared in the " Spectator." It 



r — ^ is evident that the writer is not personally 

 -^ -^^ acquainted with India. Had he been, he 

 would certainly have taken some of his examples of 

 noisy fowls from the avifauna of this country. It is 

 true that India can boast of no quiet bird so vociferous 

 as the campanero or bell-bird of America, whose voice 

 is said to carry for three miles, that being about the 

 distance " which would be selected (by preference) by 

 its auditors ! " However, as generators of noise, horn- 

 bills are not very far behind the bell-bird. The flapping 

 of the wings of that most extraordinary of birds — the 

 Great Hornbill — can be heard a mile away, the sound 

 resembling that made by a railway train. The voice 

 of the bird, moreover, carries a distance of many 

 furlongs. 



The writer in the "Spectator" declares that England, 

 although it cannot boast of many vociferous birds, has 

 some " which can hold their own with all but the most 

 strenuous voices of the bird population of other lands." 

 As a matter of fact, there is only one such bird in 

 England, and that is the corn-crake. Take away this 



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