224 LANGUAGE OF BIRDS. 



kind, is quite mute,* though some are rather silent. The lan- 

 guage of birds is very ancient, and like other ancient modes of 

 speech, very elliptical ; little is said, but much is meant and 

 understood, f 



The notes of the eagle kind are shrill and piercing ; and 

 about the season of nidification much diversified, as I have 

 been often assured by a curious observer of nature, who long 

 resided at Gibraltar, where eagles abound. The notes of our 

 hawks much resemble those of the king of birds. Owls have 

 very expressive notes ; they hoot in a fine vocal sound, much 

 resembling the vox humana, and reducible by a pitch-pipe to a 

 musical key. This note seems to express complacency and 

 rivalry among the males ; they use also a quick call and an 

 horrible scream ; and can snore and hiss when they mean to 

 menace. Ravens, besides their loud croak, can exert a deep 

 and solemn note that makes the woods to echo ; the amorous 

 sound of a crow is strange and ridiculous ; rooks, in the breed- 

 ing season, attempt sometimes, in the gaiety of their hearts, to 

 sing, but with no great success ; the parrot kind have many 

 modulations of voice, as appears by their aptitude to learn 

 human sounds ; doves coo in an amorous and mournful manner 

 and are emblems of despairing lovers ; the woodpecker sets up 

 a sort of loud and hearty laugh ; the fern-owl, or goat-sucker, 

 from the dusk till daybreak, serenades his mate with the clat- 

 tering of castanets. All the tuneful passercs express their 



* Mr John Thomson of Hull says, " Some tench, which I caught in 

 ponds, made a croaking like a frog for a full half hour, whilst in the 

 basket at my shoulder." It is well known that when the herring is just 

 caught in the net, and brought into the boat, it utters a shrill cry like a 

 mouse. The gurnard grunts or croaks when taken and freed from the 

 hook. ED. 



f Mr J. Murray says, " I once heard the cuckoo's note at midnight. 

 This occurred some years ago, as I was coming from Charleton to Douglas, 

 in the Isle of Man. It was moonlight, and I enjoyed a delightful walk 



and the nights clear and calm, so that the night was in fact more pleasant 

 than the day ; so much so, that I frequently went out after supper, and 

 as frequently heard the cuckoo and the nightingale from ten till eleven 



s highly gratified in hearing a trie, 

 melody of the grove, performed by the cuckoo, the nightingale, and the 

 irbli-r, ?x little after midnight." Ko. 



