70 ORGANS OF VOICE. 



lencoiophus?) which assembles in flocks of about 

 twenty or thirty, in the recesses of forests, and 

 whose note so exactly resembles the human voice in 

 loud laughing, that a person ignorant of the real 

 cause, would fancy that a very merry party were 

 close at hand. 



There is also a species of Skylark, in India, whose 

 powers of imitation are described as astonishing. 

 One of these birds had so completely learned the 

 wailing cry of a kite soaring in the air, that although 

 the lark's cage was in a room, and within a few feet 

 of the listener, he could scarcely persuade himself 

 that the cry he heard did not, in reality, proceed 

 from a distant kite. They are taught by being 

 carried daily to the fields and groves, in close-covered 

 cages, and are so prized, that a fine, well-instructed 

 bird, has been known to sell for 41. 



We have spoken of our English Goat-sucker, but 

 there are many of this family never seen in our 

 island, and far more interesting. In South America 

 there are several sorts, whose notes are so singular, 

 that the natives look upon them with a degree of awe 

 and reverence, and will never kill them. They have 

 received names from the different words they are 

 supposed to speak, and absolutely bewilder strangers 

 on first arriving in those parts. Thus, one of the 

 most common will alight close to the door, and, on 

 a person's going out, will flit, and settle a few yards 

 before him, crying out, " Who are you? who, who, 

 who are you?" another calls out, " Work away, work 

 away, work away !" a third, in a mournful tone, 

 says " Willy come go ; Willy, Willy, Willy come go !" 

 While another, which is also a very common one, is 



