The OoLOGiST. 



VOL. XVII. NO. 10. 



ALBION. N. Y., DEC. 1900. 



Whole No. 171 



The Oologist. 



A Monthly Publication Devoted to 



OOLOGY, ORNITHOLOGY AND 

 TAXIDERMY. 



PRANK H. LATTIN, Editor and Publisher, 

 ALBION, N. Y. 



Correspondence and Items of Interest to the 

 student of Birds, their Nests and Eggs, solicited 

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Bird Music 



All birds that I have met with have 

 means of expressing themselves by 

 sound, and though many are far from 

 entertaining to man, it is reasonable to 

 admit that the discordant caw of the 



crow is as expressive to its mates as is 

 the bubbling melody of the Warbling 

 Vireo to the little Greenlets, or the gut- 

 teral honk to the Herons. These songs, 

 call-notes and twitterings differ to a 

 wide degree in the various species, but 

 are nearly identical in birds of a kind- 

 tending to prove that the notes consti- 

 tute a language, or at least a method of 

 communication. 



There has appeared a work, which, 

 I understand, attempts to demonstrate 

 the existence of a language among our 

 near relatives, the monkeys. I do not 

 doubt that a language exists sufficient 

 for their requirements in every respect, 

 but we are denied the privilege of com- 

 prehending it in the least degree. In 

 fact the notes of birds are as intelligible 

 to our ears as the chattering of monk- 

 eys, and taken in connection with their 

 movements are as expressive of their 

 desires as the sounds made by any an- 

 imal we know. Then too, granting 

 that a language exists with each species 

 of animal and bird we must admit that 

 the single croak of the Raven compre- 

 hends as great meaning as the single 

 faint chirp of the gorgeous Humming- 

 bird, and the estatic warble of the 

 Bluebird is equally expressive with the 

 discordant gutterals of the Herons or 

 the weird cry of the Loon. 



There is much that is worthy of ob- 

 servation in the songs of birds and the 

 time spent in the study of them cannot 

 fail to furnish entertainment- Aside 

 from the pleasure of the true music, we 

 may draw comparisons between the 

 varied ditties, and also the ability is 

 given us to liken many of them to the 

 words of our language. It is this asso- 

 ciation of the bird with its notes, ex- 

 pressed in words, which often leads us 



