LANGUAGE. 181 
brood, among all the young broods of other birds 
of the same species in the neighbourhood ; and this 
they do as distinctly as the ewe knows the bleat of 
her own lamb, or the lamb the cry of its own moth- 
er, among a large flock. With regard to the note 
of alarm birds send forth on the approach of their 
natural enemies, whether a hawk, an owl, or a cat, 
we consider it to be a general language perfectly 
understood by all small birds, though each species 
has a note peculiar to itself. This note differs in 
sound from the note of fear or alarm given by them 
when man approaches near their nests. This last 
seems confined to particular species ; but this gen- 
eral alarm note (which is understood by all small 
birds), we should call their war-whoop or gathering 
cry, for it is a true natural slogan.”* 
The noisy cackle of jays, the cawing of rooks, 
and the incessant yelp of sparrows, appear, so far 
as we can judge, to be partly so many social signals 
for congregating in a particular place, and to be 
continued after the flock has assembled, either to 
warn stragglers to what point they ought to wing 
their way, or, in the spirit of rivalry which prevails 
so extensively among birds, with the object of out- 
vying each otherin loudness of tone. It is remark- 
able, indeed, that most, if not all gregarious birds 
are thus noisy, and differ much in this respect from 
solitary or sub-solitary birds. If a rook or a sea- 
gull, therefore, is by accident separated from its 
companions, it will keep up an incessant vociferous 
call, till a response is returned either from some 
other straggler or from the colony to which it be- 
longs. The necessity of such a habit as this is still 
more obvious in the case of those birds which mi- 
grate together at night. ‘‘ Aquatic and gregarious 
birds,” says White, ‘‘ especially the nocturnal, that 
shift their quarters in the dark, are very noisy and 
* Brit. Song Birds, Intr., p. 31. 
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