186 VOICES OF BIRDS. 



ble dialects, created or compounded as his wants oc- 

 curred, or his ideas prompted; or obtained by inter- 

 course with others, as mental enlargement or novelty 

 necessitated new words to express new sentiments. 

 Could we find a people from Japan or the Pole, whose 

 progress in mind has been stationary, without increase 

 of idea, from national prejudice or impossibility of com- 

 munication with others, we probably should find little 

 or no alteration in the original language of that people ; 

 so, by analogy of reasoning, the animal having no idea 

 to prompt, no new want to express, no converse with 

 others, (for a note caught and uttered merely is like a 

 boy mocking the cuckoo,) so no new language is ac- 

 quired. With civilized man, every thing is progressive ; 

 with animals, where there is no mind, all is stationary. 

 Even the voice of one species of birds, except in par- 

 ticular cases, seems not to be attended to by another 

 species. That peculiar call of the female cuckoo, 

 which assembles so many contending lovers, and all the 

 various amatorial and caressing language of others, ex- 

 cites no influence generally, that I am aware of; with 

 all but the individual species, it is a dialect unknown. 

 I know but one note, which animals make use of, that 

 seems of universal comprehension, and this is the sig- 

 nal of danger. The instant that it is uttered, we hear 

 the whole flock, though composed of various species, 

 repeat a separate moan, and away they all scuttle into 

 the bushes for safety. The reiterated " twink, twink" 

 of the chaffinch, is known by every little bird as infor- 

 mation of some prowling cat or weasel. Some give 

 the maternal hush to their young, and mount to inquire 

 into the jeopardy announced. The wren, that tells of 

 perils from the hedge, soon collects about her all the 

 various inquisitive species within hearing, to survey and 

 ascertain the object, and add their separate fears. The 

 swallow, that shrieking darts in devious flight through 

 the air when a hawk appears, not only calls up all the 

 hirundines of the village, but is instantly understood by 

 every finch and sparrow, and its warning attended to. 

 As Nature, in all her ordinations, had a fixed design 

 and foreknowledge, it may be that each species had a 



