246 LANGUAGE OF BIBDS. 



very ancient, and like other ancient modes of speech, very 

 elliptical : little is said, but much is meant and understood.* 



The notes of the eagle kind are shrill and piercing ; and 

 about the season of nidification much diversified, as I have 

 been often assured by a curious observer of Nature, who 

 long resided at Gibraltar, where eagles abound. The notes 

 of our hawks much resemble those of the king of birds. 

 Owls have very expressive notes ; they hoot in a fine vocal 

 sound, much resembling the vox humana, and reducible by a 

 pitch-pipe to a musical key. This note seems to express 

 complacency and rivalry among the males ; they use also a 

 quick call and a horrible scream ; and can snore and hiss 

 when they mean to menace. Ravens, besides their loud 

 croak, can exert a deep and solemn note that makes the 

 woods to echo ; the amorous sound of a crow is strange and 

 ridiculous ; rooks, in the breeding season, attempt some- 

 times, in the gaiety of their hearts, to sing, but with no great 

 success ; the parrot kind have many modulations of voice, as 

 appears by their aptitude to learn human sounds ; doves coo 

 in an amorous and mournful manner, and are emblems of 

 despairing lovers ; the woodpecker sets up a sort of loud and 

 hearty laugh ; the fern-owl, or goat-sucker, from the dusk 

 till day-break, serenades his mate with the clattering of 

 castanets. All the tuneful passer es express their compla- 

 cency by sweet modulations, and a variety of melody. The 

 swallow, as has been observed in a former letter, by a shrill 

 alarm, bespeaks the attention of the other kirundines, and 

 bids them be aware that the hawk is at hand. Aquatic and 

 gregarious birds, especially the nocturnal, that shift their 

 quarters in the dark, are very noisy and loquacious; as 

 cranes, wild-geese, wild-ducks, and the like : their perpetual 

 clamour prevents them from dispersing and losing their 

 companions. 



In so extensive a subject, sketches and outlines are as 

 much as can be expected : for it would be endless to instance 

 in all the infinite variety of the feathered nation. We shall, 

 therefore, confine the remainder of this letter to the few 

 domestic fowls of our yards, which are most known, and, 



* The call of birds that fly in families, as the tit-mice-jays, &c., when they 

 have been separated and want to find each other, is very interesting. ED. 



