APPENDIX. 201 



Screech-Owl. (Seep. 100.) 



Mr. Lowell, whose wont it is to see and hear the thing 

 commonly overlooked, regards the cry of this owl as " one 

 of the sweetest sounds in Nature." 



Hen Music and Talk. (See p. 104.) 



" As an example of bird language Mr. C. F. Holder says in 

 'Wide Awake' that the ordinary domestic fowl presents the 

 most interesting and perfect songs. Half an hour in a barn- 

 yard will demonstrate that certain sounds are the equivalent 

 of words. The crow of the cock is a challenge to another 

 cock, and is not noticed by the hens ; but let him find a 

 delicate morsel and he stops crowing to utter a succession of 

 short notes : * Tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck ! ' at which the hens 

 gather about him for their share of the dainty. 



" The different notes, or * baby-talk,' of the mother hen are 

 of great variety, and mean quite different things. Every biddy 

 understands that ' chuck, chuck, chuck ! ' means * Come home 

 to your mother,' just as the quick call, * tuck, tuck, tuck ! ' 

 means ' come to your supper.' Mr. Holder gives the follow- 

 ing brief chapter of domestic fowl language from a dictionary 

 too extended to present in unabridged form : 



' Ur-ka-do-dle-do-o-o. Challenge of male. 

 Tuck, tuck, tuck. Food call. 

 K-a-r-r-e. Announcing presence of hawk. 

 Cut, cut, ca-da-cut. Announcement of egg-laying. 

 Cluck, cluck, cluck. Call of young. 

 Kerr, kerr, kerr. Song of contentment of hen. 

 C-r-a-w-z-z-e. Quieting young chicks. 

 W-h-o-o-i-e (whistle). Expression of apprehension at night. 

 C-r-a-i-a-i-o-u. Terror and protest at capture/ " 



Newspaper clipping. 



