COLOR CALLS AMONG THE BIRDS. EE 
others at the presence of an enemy is one of the 
lowest social feelings based on the most sinister com- 
munity of interest. 
Certain birds have a whirring flight when first 
flushed, and others have purposely designed wing 
whistles, as in 
doves and wood- 
cocks. Others in- 
cidentally strike 
their wings _ to- 
gether over their 
backs as they begin 
to fly. Yet more 
voluntary is the little “chit” or back talks of many 
birds as they feed—accompanied sometimes, as in the 
snowbirds, by the little flit of the white tail feathers— 
a sort of “ [-am-with-you” kind of signal in the toil 
for daily bread. 
Then there are those most conscious, deliberate, 
altruistic vocal calls of the flocking birds, where so 
long as a single member is astray the whole remain- 
ing flock will risk its safety in calling the wandering 
brother in-—a beautiful instance of the love for the 
lost one that runs all through Nature—a hint of the 
concern of the ninety and nine about the hundredth 
one, away down here in feathers. 
Many a man walking homeward from his bloody 
work among the birds plumes himself upon his be- 
nevolence as he thinks of giving a quail or grouse to 
an invalid or an appreciative friend, and prides him- 
self upon his culture and civilization, when, if he 
6 


Outer tail feather white, shown only in flight. 
