252 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



is by no means peculiar to that species, several 

 other animals exhibiting it still more strikingly, and 

 amongst others the porcupine (Hystrix* BRISSON), 

 which we have in numerous instances observed when 

 in confinement to beat the floor of its cage with one 

 of its hind feet so violently as to make us apprehend 

 it might fracture the bone. We are not sufficiently 

 acquainted with the economy of the porcupine in a 

 wild state to assign a cause for this thumping ; but 

 it appeared to us to mean defiance as plainly as the 

 hissing of an owl or of a gander, or the crowing of 

 a cock*. 



Those who have attended minutely to the language 

 of fear, alarm, or defiance among birds, cannot fail 

 to have remarked the considerable variety both of 

 notes and intonation in the same species. Thus, as 

 White of Selborne remarks, " when the hen turkey 

 leads forth her young brood, she keeps a watchful 

 eye, and if a bird of prey appear, though ever so 

 high in the air, the careful mother announces the 

 enemy with a little inward moan and watches him 

 with a steady and attentive look; but if he approach, 

 her note becomes earnest and alarming, and her out- 

 cries are redoubled t-'' In the instance of a cock bird 

 expressing fear or giving an alarm to the hen of 

 the approach of danger near the nest, the tones seem 

 to be varied so as to give her due notice either to 

 keep close and still, or to make her escape with as 

 much caution as she can. " This note, 5 ' observes 

 Mr. Syme, "is only comprehended by birds of the 

 same species, though we have certainly seen birds of 

 different genera appear as if alarmed by this note of 

 fear sounded by a bird of a different species or genus ; 

 but whether it was the note that alarmed them, or 

 our presence, we cannot say. But we are pretty sure 

 the notes of parent birds and the chirp of their young, 

 * J. R. 



