COUNTRY SOUNDS 



Insects were the first to break the silence, and their 

 sound-production is almost wholly instrumental. 

 Buzzing or humming is mainly due to rapid vibra- 

 tions of the wings, which often strike the air more 

 than a hundred times in a second, but there is 

 sometimes a special quivering instrument near the 

 base of the wing. Chirping or trilling is due to 

 one hard part being scraped against another, as the 

 bow on the fiddle it may be leg against wing, or 

 limb against body. A true voice, due to the vibra- 

 tion of vocal cords as the air from the windpipe 

 passes over them, began in the amphibians, but did 

 not come to its own till birds and mammals appeared 

 on the scene. 



As the sounds made by not-living things in Tem- 

 perate zones are, on the whole, less violent than 

 those of the Tropics, so is it also with the sounds 

 made by animals. How little we have that can be 

 compared with the chatter of parrots and monkeys 

 in warmer countries ! Except during the time of bird- 

 courtship a North Temperate country is very quiet. 



We went in the August gloaming to a beautiful 

 lake hidden in a forest of Scots pine and spruce. 

 As far as one could see there were only two birds 

 visible, a pair of dabchicks, diving every minute or 

 two, and uttering now and then the gentlest possible 

 whit-whit which one would not have heard if the 

 hush had not been so great. Now and again a 

 silvery trout leaped high ; but that was all till 

 suddenly a ring-dove gave voice, with its deep, rich 

 COO-TOO, wonderfully soothing and tender. 



Just as people vary considerably in acuteness of 

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