LANGUAGE OF FOWLS. 225- 



complacency by sweet modulations, and a variety of melody. 

 The swallow, as has been observed in a former letter, by a 

 shrill alarm, bespeaks the attention of the other hirundines, and 

 bids them be aware that the hawk is at hand.* Aquatic and 

 gregarious birds, especially the nocturnal, that shift tneir quar- 

 ters in the dark, are very nois and loquacious, as cranes, 

 wild-geese, wild-ducks, and the like : their perpetual clamour 

 prevents them from dispersing and losing their companions. 



In so extensive a subject, sketches and outlines are as much 

 as can be expected ; for it would be endless to instance in all 

 the infinite variety of the feathered nation. We shall, there- 

 fore, confine the remainder of this letter to the few domestic 

 fowls of our yards, w r hich are most known, and, therefore, 

 best understood. And first, the peacock, with his gorgeous 

 train, demands our attention ; but, like most of the gaudy birds, 

 his notes are grating and shocking to the ear : the yelling 

 of cats, and the braying of an ass, are not more disgustful. 

 The voice of the goose is trumpet-like, and clanking ; and once 

 saved the Capitol at Rome, as grave historians assert: the 

 hiss, also, of the gander is formidable, and full of menace, and 

 " protective of his young." Among ducks, the sexual dis- 

 tinction of voice is remarkable ; for, while the quack of the 

 female is loud and sonorous, the voice of the. drake is inward, 

 and harsh, and feeble, and scarce discernible. The cock 

 turkey struts and gobbles to his mistress in a most uncouth 

 manner : he hath also a pert and petulant note when he attacks 

 his adversary. When a hen turkey leads forth her young 

 brood, she keeps a watchful eye ; and if a bird of prey appear, 

 though ever so high in the air, the careful mother announces 

 the enemy with a little inward moan, and watches him with a 



* Syme makes the following judicious remarks upon the songs of 

 birds : " The notes of soft-billed birds are finely toned, mellow, and 

 plaintive ; those of the hard-billed species are sprightly, cheerful, and 

 rapid. This difference proceeds from the construction of the larynx ; as 

 a large pipe of an organ produces a deeper and more mellow-toned note 

 than a small pipe ; so the trachea of the nightingale, which is wider than 

 that of the canary, sends forth a deeper and more mellow-toned note. 

 Soft-billed birds, also, sing more from the lower part of their throat than 

 the hard-billed species. This, together with the greater width of the 

 larynx of the nightingale and other soft-billed warblers, ful'y accounts for 

 their soft, round, mellow notes, compared with the shrill, sharp, and clear 



