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The Australian swamp-quail, Synoicus Australis, of Gould, is 
said to be a nearer ally than the quail to the common partridge, 
which it resembles in many points of its economy. He says: 
“Tts call is very similar to that of the common partridge.” 
“ Handbook of Birds of Australia,” IT., p. 193. 
The American snipe (Sc. gallinaga) has the same flight as 
that of Europe, the same bleating note and occasional rapid 
descent. Wilson 2, 223. 
These are one or two instances picked from some hundreds 
recorded by the writers above mentioned. 
My personal observations convince me that the cries of 
allied young are more closely alike than those of adult birds ; 
that the voice is generally, but not always, employed much 
_ more by the male than by the female, and that in the male it 
diverges most from specific types. 
A similarity existing between the cries of most birds 
which are physically allied, is a matter of common observation; 
_ butit is a subject which appears to have never been investigated. 
In the Corvide, we hear a low croak in the Raven, a loud 
_ “corrr” in the crow; a somewhat similar “caw” in the rook; 
all of which are habitual sounds. The jay has also a loud 
“caa,” much modified, which appears to be always an alarm; 
_ the jackdaw utters a low, prolonged “cah,” as an alarm to its 
fledged young: its ordinary notes are short, much varied, and 
often resemble the words “jack” and “jock.” The starling 
employs a loud “cah” when tending its nestling young; and 
it is important that the young call to their parents in a cry 
which very closely resembles the nest-cry of the young rook, 
and which differs much from the ordinary call-notes employed 
between adult starlings; but the adults employ “cah” as 
their most vehement alarm. Macgillivray renders the note of 
the hooded crow as “ craa,” (Brit. Bds. 1, 352), and he employs 
“khraa” (id. 544) to represent that of the rook; we may 
therefore infer that the cries are alike. 
Yarrell (4, 2, 239) describes the ordinary notes of the 
nutcracker as sounding like “crah, crah, crah,” or “cri, cru, 
eri”; and he adds that “when alarmed, it has a harsh cry, 
which by many is compared to that of the missel-thrush.” I 
