62 ORGANS OF VOICE. 



song even when sitting on its nest, and thus too frequently 

 become the innocent cause of the capture of its brood. 



The loud cries of other birds, however, particularly of many 

 of the migratory water-birds, which fly by night, are evidently 

 intended for the purpose of keeping them together. Few have 

 been without opportunities of listening in the silence of the 

 night to the incessant cackling of a flight of wild Geese on their 

 way to some distant spot high in the air. In the Northern 

 seas sounds of this sort are more frequently heard from birds 

 which never come so far to the southward. Of these is the Ked- 

 breasted Diver, which seldom quits the water by day, but during 

 the night may be known to be on the wing, at a vast height, 

 by a peculiarly melancholy and distressing scream, exactly 

 resembling that of a young child suffering from agonising pain. 

 We have listened by the hour together to the repeated and 

 successive wailings of these wild, melancholy birds ; first, the 

 scream is faint, and so distant as scarcely to reach the ear ; 

 then it increases as the bird passes nearer — till, as it continues 

 its flight, the sound gradually dies away. Soon another scream 

 from another quarter is faintly heard, and so on till the dawn 

 appears, when they betake themselves to the element on which 

 they pass the day. 



The distance, too, at which some birds may be heard is very 

 extraordinary. The brown Crane of North America, which 

 soars to an amazing height, when almost out of sight utters a 

 note which is so distinctly heard that an experienced sportsman 

 would imagine it to be close at hand. 



From the notes and voice of birds we will next proceed to 

 their feathers and wings. A more beautiful, light, and compact 

 piece of machinery, or more perfectly adapted for the purposes 

 for which it is intended, cannot be conceived than a feather. 

 For beauty, look to the colours and shades presented by the 

 glossy plumage of our Peacocks and Pheasants, with which 

 everybody is familiar ; but their colours, beautiful and brilliant 

 as they are, shrink into insignificance compared with the dazzling 

 coverings of many others, found only in the hotter climates of 

 the globe. It is difficult to make a selection amongst the 



