224 DO ANIMALS TALK? 



always to be understood and generally obeyed, almost 

 instantly, by the birds of the same species, though no 

 bird of another species pays the slightest attention to it. 

 But the few shore birds which are really ' talkative ' 

 namely, the wild geese, the redshank, and the green 

 plover pay very little attention to the calls either of 

 their own species or of anyone who can imitate them. 

 We never heard of anyone who has ever tried to ' call ' 

 wild geese. Green plover can be called, but very 

 seldom ; and though redshanks can sometimes be 

 whistled within shot, this is rarely done. 



The difference between the notes of invitation made 

 by various shore fowl stints, gray plover, golden 

 plover, ringed plover, knots, and sandpipers is so 

 slight that no one but a fowler would notice it. 

 Yet to these men the difference is as great as that 

 between the sound of French and English. A really 

 first-class gunner will sit in a creek in August and call 

 the birds up, if within hearing and inclined to move, in 

 any order you like to name. Even such closely allied 

 birds as the curlew and the whimbrel have different 

 notes, though, as they are so often associated on the 

 marshes, one species will often answer to the call made 

 by the other, probably in the expectation of finding 

 some of its own tribe in the same place. It is not a 

 little surprising that these different birds, most of 

 which feed in company, should not have learnt a 



