THE COMMON-SENSE VIEW 169 



and generally with a fluttering or shaking accom- 

 paniment of her wings ; (7) a curious note some- 

 times heard in London — meaning not well under- 

 stood, but supposed to be a sort of chuckle or 

 sign of contentment. Each one of these several 

 different notes may be used to stand for various 

 ideas depending on the circumstances by being 

 given different emphasis and inflection, just as in 

 the languages of many primitive races of men a 

 small vocabulary of words is used to stand for a 

 much larger number of ideas by being pronounced 

 differently. In the Chinese language, for instance, 

 the words are increased to three or four times the 

 original number by modulation ; but the same 

 thing is observed in all languages, both human 

 and non-human. Verbal poverty is pieced out 

 by verbal variation. We say ac-cent or ac-cenf, 

 depending on whether we wish to express the idea 

 of a noun or a verb. 



The memory of birds is well developed. Many 

 of them remember the very grove or meadow^, and 

 even the very knot-hole or bush, in which they 

 built their nest the season before, although in the 

 meantime they have journeyed over lands and 

 seas and sojourned thousands of niiles away. 

 Every year, for several seasons past, in late summer 

 and early fall, after the nesting-time is over and 

 the young ones are all grown, the purple martins 

 have gathered in large numbers about the Field 

 Columbian Museum, in Jackson Park, Chicago. 

 They stay here for a few weeks, foraging the sur- 

 rounding air for insects by day, and sleeping on 



