Bird Notes & News 



ISSUED QUARTERLY BY THE ROYAL SOCIETY 

 :: :: FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS :: :: 



Vol. VIII.] 



SPRING, 1919. 



[No. 5. 



What the Birds Said. 



FThe following article aopeared in a leading French 

 weekly paper, U Illustration 3"^\ befo^^^i'?, °^*- 

 break of War. It was sent to the R.S.P.B. by 

 the Hon. Secretary of the Belgian section of the 

 Society Internationale pour la Protection de 1 

 Oiseau scarcely more than a fortnight before the 

 invasion of Belgium. Since that time Belgians, 

 French and Enghsh have tasted captivity in Ger- 

 man prisons ; and the cells of Ruhleben, as shown 

 in model at the Ruhleben Exhibition in London 

 recently must have reminded visitors strangely of 

 cases " There were however several companions 

 to share thought and speech in the German cells, 

 and none were so small in proportion as the 7 m. 

 by 4 in. boxes in which thousands of winged birds 

 are confined in England. , , ^, ■ . a 



The translation appears, in somewhat abbreviated 

 form, by kind permission of L' Illmtratwn and of 

 the author, M. Henri Lavedan.] 



You would never guess what happened to 

 me the other day at the Jardin d'Acchma- 

 tation, where I had gone, for the second 

 time to the exhibition of birds, fishes, and 

 insects. I was there quietly, when, just 

 after entering, I discovered that the birds 

 were speaking! For the world at large 

 they were singing as usual, but for me they 

 spoke ; they employed words and phrases ; 

 and although their language was of a more 

 lively rapidity than ours, I followed it 

 easily. I will repeat to you what was said, 

 first, because I cannot help myself, and 

 secondly because I have no right to be 

 silent as to what I have learned by favour 

 and revelation. 



I can hardly explain how clear and har- 

 monious and intelligible was all that would 

 appear to you confusion and tumult. And 

 each voice possessed, besides its special 

 note, the colour and manner corresponding 

 to the bird and its plumage. Not only 

 were there voices quick, sustained, or waver- 

 ing ; they were red, blue, yellow, white ; 

 voices speckled and voices crested ; and 

 while retaining the quality of song, they 

 expressed things audible to the senses though 



unpronounceable in ordinary language — 

 the vocal shorthand of those excited feelings 

 which flit across the spirit of the bird by 

 thousands in a minute. 



Those voices first stepping out from the 

 ranks of sound were the most simple. They 

 spoke in words of one or two syllables, 

 words always the same, thrown out with 

 imperious summons, with anger and regret, 

 with sadness, voices to peck at and pierce 

 your heart. Words such as Pity ! Open ! 

 The Sky ! Space ! Leaves ! Breeze ! Flight ! 

 Then came more developed longings, desires, 

 sighs, and memories. Oh ! to cleave the 

 air ! to drink from the stream which murmurs 

 and flows ! to feel the damp moss and grip 

 the bending branch ! To balance on the 

 blade of grass ! To catch the butterfly ! To 

 flee away and hide ! Sun ! shade ! fresh air ! 



After these I. perceived others whose cries 

 and songs further recalled past joys and 

 unknown or lost happiness. Golden rays 

 of sunlight ! Freedom ! Travel ! Delicious 

 food ! Spoil for our beaks ! Nest built by 

 oneself ! Sprays ! Flakes of wool ! Broken 

 straws ! Slumber, hidden in the forest tree ! 

 Liberty ! Liberty ! Then broke out invoca- 

 tions and litanies, to the cherubim, to the 

 saints of winged creatures, to blessed St. 

 Francis, to the Dove of the Ark, and to all 

 that fly in Paradise : Help, Save us. Air, 

 no more Cage ! 



All these cries and appeals, crossing and 

 melting yet defined and distinct, were the 

 orchestra of the innocent yet penalised birds, 

 telling of their feverish desolation, their 

 powerful though tiny rages, their invincible 

 vaulting hopes ; it was the poem of captivity, 

 the IjTic drama of the cage. And through it 

 I received a sudden startling revelation of 

 animated Nature and of our blind egotism. 

 We thought that these birds did not know 

 the sadness of their doom ; because they 



