Notes of Birds. 309 
These facts one would suppose were quite 
sufficient to convince the most prejudiced, 
that birds do not always acquire the calls and 
notes of thuse under which they are bred. 
But, perbaps, it may be urged, that ducks, 
guinea fowls, pheasants, and partridges, are 
probably incapable of learning the calls of 
domestic fowls; that domestic fowls, in their 
turn, may be incapable of acquiring the call 
of the turkey; and that the cuckoo appears 
to be very poorly qualified for imitating the 
notes of its foster parents. Still I must 
contend, that the incapacity of these birds 
has never been proved; and even if it had, 
it would afford no explanation of the man- 
ner in which they become acquainted. with 
their own respective calls. According to Mr. 
Barrington’s theory they ought to be mute ;- 
or, at least, should have such notes only as 
they have been able to pick up casually ; 
which, of course, would possess little or no 
resemblance. 
From these, and similar observations, I 
have long been thoroughly convinced myself, 
that the calls of birds, which seem to be the 
simplest expressions of their sensations, are 
tion would admit the peacock and turkey into the catalogue of singing 
birds ; and the hideous scream of the one, and the ludicrous gobble 
of the other, are certainly any thing but musical. 
