28 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[Februaby 1, 1899. 



THE BAD LANGUAGE OF WILD BIRDS. 



By Charles A. Witchell. 



JUDGING by what one hears of the utterances of 

 animals generally, it would seem that many of the 

 notes of birds are interpreted too poetically by 

 observers. In the case of many animals, the facial 

 expression is capable of suiBcient variation to clearly 

 prove the character of the sounds by which it is accom- 

 panied. When a dog or a eat snarls, for instance, we 

 know that the sound is intended to express hatred and a 

 threat of attack. The lowing of a cow or of a calf, the 

 bleating of a kid, the snorting of a horse, and its whinneying, 

 can hardly be misunderstood. 



But the meanings of the cries of birds are less obvious. 

 The cooing of a dove, or the warbling of a fluent singer, 

 may seem to be as expressive as any note of the quadrupeds 

 just mentioned ; but when attention is given to the actions 

 which accompany the cries of birds, an observer finds that 

 some very pleasant sounds are incidental to very unkind 

 behaviour. In a few cases the combativeness of a bird is 

 fairly well suggested by its cry — as occurs in the common 

 fowl, whose " crow " is as defiant as a bugle blast. The 

 shriek of the woodland jay, also, is very expressive. These 

 sounds, however, do not represent the greatest passion. 

 We must listen to birds actually engaged in combat in 

 order to hear the expression of their utmost hate— their 

 worst language ; and, listening thus, we often make the 

 discovery that the sound accompanying an attempt at 

 murder is closely like (sometimes apparently identical 

 with) sounds which seem to be joyous song. 



The little brown wren mounts the top of the hedge and 

 sings a sprightly song. The notes seem to be the spon- 

 taneous outpouring of joy. Twenty yards farther along 

 the hedge another wren mounts to the topmost twig, perks 

 his tail, and utters a similar lively tune. Number one flies 

 a little way towards number two, and sings again. Here, 

 then, is a pleasing sylvan duetto ! But soon the wrens 

 are fighting furiously, tumbling over and over each other 

 at the bottom of the hedge, while at intervals snatches of 

 the same little ditty are heard. They sing, in the intervals 

 of fighting, what seemed a song of peace and love. In 

 view of what the birds are doing, it may be surmised that 

 their language at this moment is very bad indeed. 



But instead of the sprightly wren, the sedate robin may 

 be under observation. If a singing robin be watched, and 

 especially in autumn, he will be seen to attack any other 

 singing robin which may be near ; yet the birds will be 

 singing all the while, and their songs will be like the 

 ordinary songs of the species, though a trifle sharper in 

 tone. The music is evidently intended to convey the 

 animosity of the birds. The hedge-sparrow twitters in 

 quite a subdued tone when fighting ; yet it nevertheless 

 seems to be singing. The willow wren sings its ordinary 

 song when about to attack a rival. The chiffchaff, however, 

 does not employ his cheerful strain on the like occasion. 

 The nightingale is somewhat pugnacious, and I have 

 several times seen two fighting (I once saw three), but no 

 song notes were then given. 



Among the finches and buntings, a combat is often 

 accompanied by a slight twittering, somewhat similar to 

 rapid repetitions of the call note, malice and love having 

 thus the same tone ; but some species employ a particular 

 note. The chaffinch has only one cry when fighting, be 

 his enemy bird or beast. That cry is the common note 

 " tink," or " fink." The greenfinch then utters a low 

 rough cry, something like " gupgupgup," repeated very 

 rapidly. The male house-sparrow is one of the most silent 

 of fighters. (The casual observer will say that this is one of 



the most untrue of allegations.) When male sparrows 

 intend to fight, they hop about restlessly near each other, 

 their feathers held very close, and their tails flirting up 

 and down almost continuously. Presently one of the birds 

 darts at the other and tries to give him a lance-thrust with 

 the bill, the other springs aside, and the aggressor alights 

 near, and the flirting of the tails continues. But all this 

 time the birds utter no cry. When the contest has 

 reached the stage of a struggle in the nest-place, however, 

 there is some noise, scuffling and screaming. The cries 

 are not the tones of love ; they are expressions of fury. 

 When male sparrows are noisily clustering around a female 

 bird, their cries may be those both of love and fear ; but 

 these assemblies require close attention before the nature 

 of the cries employed can be ascertained. 



There are many species which give the full song during 

 combat. I have heard the full song of the tree pipit sung 

 by a bird fighting furiously. When first seen the birds 

 were fighting in flight ; they fell to the ground together, 

 and in this position, and when I was not more than three 

 yards distant, one of them uttered the full song, including 

 even the final " whee whee whee," which is usually uttered 

 while the bird is descending on outstretched motionless 

 wings. 



The common pied wagtail, when attacking another, 

 utters cries which seem to be his ordinary call-notes ; and 

 the same incident may be observed in the skylark. Last 

 summer a lark was singing as usual above his meadow, 

 and another singing lark approached and swooped at him. 

 The new-comer was vigorously repulsed, though not until 

 some pretty flying and stooping had been performed ; and 

 the birds were singing all the while. They were evidently 

 rival neighbours, but in this instance, as in those above 

 mentioned, mere rivalry and emulation would not account 

 for the behaviour of the birds. This must be credited to 

 hatred and ill-will. 



In many species, therefore, we cannot easily distinguish 

 the tone of love from that of hate, unless we also consider 

 the contemporaneous behaviour of the birds. And even 

 then we may easily err ; for when a melodious singer is 

 perched in a tree, or poised on the wing, we cannot tell 

 whether his notes are addressed to his mate, or to his 

 enemy. Unfortunately, it is not only among birds that 

 the same tone is employed towards both of these objects ! 



So far, I have not met with anyone who is paying 

 attention to this branch of bird-song ; yet it is a really 

 important one, with a basis of fact to indicate the lines of 

 investigation to be followed. The sparrow and several 

 other finches have cries which are preferably employed 

 during combat. Some singers, as the robin and thrush, 

 sing when fighting with others of their own species, but 

 not when fighting birds of alien species, and there are 

 many which do not sing at all when fighting. The starling 

 is one of the last. When threatened by another, or 

 meditating an attack, it is silent, and at the moment of 

 the encounter only a slight cackling is heard. This 

 sound may most often be heard in September and October, 

 when the birds are striving for the possession of nesting 

 sites in which to roost during the winter. 



But though the starling never expresses malice in song, 

 he undoubtedly often sings a love-song, for he will fan his 

 mate with his wings while singing ; and she, with head 

 raised and taO drooping, adds a softer strain to his music. 



The blackbird is another singer which never employs 

 song as a threat. His combats are accompanied by a 

 metallic clicking sound, with which most of us are 

 familiar. The song thrush, however, never has a contest 

 with another of his kind without twittering an accom- 

 paniment. 



