A Bird-Ventriloquist 177 



or if you have been waiting till he has come unawares 

 close to you, you may possibly see the grass move as if 

 something passed through it; but in a moment he is 

 gone, without a glimpse of his body having been seen. 

 His speed must be very great to slip like this from one 

 side of the field to the other in so few seconds. 



The fact that the call apparently issues from the grass 

 in one place, and yet upon reaching it the bird is not to 

 be found, has given rise to the belief that the crake is a 

 ventriloquist. It may be so ; but, even without special 

 powers of that kind, ventriloquial effects would, I think, 

 be produced by the peculiar habits of the bird. When 

 that which causes a sound is out of sight it must always 

 be difficult to fix upon the exact spot whence the sound 

 comes. When the sound is made now here, now yonder, as 

 the bird travels swiftly still out of sight it must be still 

 more difficult. The crake doubtless often cries from a 

 furrow which would act something like a trough, tending 

 to draw the sound along it. Finally, the incessant repe- 

 tition of the same note, harsh and loud, confuses the ear. 



Some say in like manner that the starling ventrilo- 

 quizes. He has, indeed, one peculiar long-drawn hollow 

 whistle which goes echoing round the chimney-pots and 

 to and fro among the gables ; but it never deceives you as 

 to his position on the roof unless you are indoors and can- 

 not see him. It is the same with the finches in the trees, 

 when the foliage is thick. Their notes seem to come from 

 this side among the branches, but on peering carefully up 

 there is no bird visible ; then it sounds higher up, and 

 even in the next tree ; all the while the finch is but just 

 overhead, and the moment he moves he is seen. Other 

 birds equally deceive the ear : the yellowhammer does 

 sometimes, and the chattering brook-sparrow ; so will the 



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