246 



HABITS OF BIRDS. 



ccelestis) ; and, in the North, it is well known under 

 the name of Heather -bleat. The snipe, however, like 

 most other birds, can vary its calls. " One note," it 

 has been said, " may be compared to the words ' tin- 

 ker, tinker,' uttered in a sharp shrill tone, as the 

 bird ascends in his flight ; the other, uttered as he 

 descends, is somewhat similar to the bleating of a 

 Iamb, only in a deeper tone, and accompanied with 

 a violent vibration of the wings*." 



It is probable, as M. Temminck plausibly con- 

 jectures, that some unexamined peculiarity of con- 

 struction in the vocal organs of the Indian-crowned 

 pigeon (Ltophyrus cristattis, VIEILLOT) enables it to 

 produce the loud cooing, or rather bellowing, which 

 so much alarmed M. Bougainville's sailors when 

 they landed on a wild and unfrequented spot in some 

 of the New Guinea islands, that they supposed it to 

 proceed from the cries of hostile and concealed na- 

 tives f. Temminck compares the sound to the gob- 

 bling ventriloquism of the turkey. 



Crowned Pigeon of Africa. 



* Ma, of Nat. Hist. ii. 144. 



f Temminck, Pigeons, i. 385. 



