DOMESTICATED BIRDS 155 



denotative value of their various calls and cries. Those who 

 know these birds well will find no difficulty in recognizing about 

 a score of diverse sounds, each of which indicates a particular 

 turn of their mind. Almost all of these different notes have 

 slight variations of expression which fit particular situations. 

 Thus the crow of these birds, which may seem to the unob- 

 servant a very unvaried sound, discloses to those who have 

 lovingly studied them at least half a dozen distinct modifi- 

 cations. In the fledgling male who just begins to feel the 

 spirit of his kind, and who goes through his performance in 

 the adolescent way, it is a cheap and often pitiful call. From 

 the open roost in the trees, where the birds are gradually 

 aroused by the slow-coming day, we can often hear the note 

 of the half-awakened cock, as full of the sense of slumber 

 as the speech of a sleeping man. As the creature gradually 

 awakens, his cry becomes more resonant until it has the true 

 morning ring. Brave as is this note of the full day, it is not 

 to be compared with the crowing of a game-cock, the most 

 splendid braggart sound of all the animal world. 



The really sympathetic notes of our fowls are uttered in 

 their ordinary intercourse. Here the gradations of sounds 

 have a range and fineness which, it seems to me, we can 

 observe in no other creature below the level of man. Atten- 

 tion, astonishment, fear, commonplace distress, exultation, and 

 agony are all set forth with cries which we, in a way, recog- 

 nize as appropriate. Although some of these sounds relate to 

 the larger experiences of the creatures, the most instructive 

 of them are uttered in their ordinary intercourse, where they 

 clearly maintain a kind of consensus in the flock by unending 

 small bits of emotional speech, the notes being shaded in a 

 wonderful way. These fine variations of utterance can some- 



