December i, i^93.j 



SCIENCE. 



305 



gard to this language, and from lier work I am able to 

 give the following: 



Tut Language. 



The name is usually given as Tut Language, but it is 

 also known as Hog Latin and Dog Latin. It consists of 

 an alphabet, which will be given farther on in connection 

 with some others. The way to learn the language is to 

 get the alphabet and then replace the letters of a word 

 with those of the Tut alphabet. Thus: 



apple = a-pup-pup-lull-i. 

 boy = bub-o-yek. 



At one time this Tut Language was used by many of 

 the children of the town, but at present it is not used ex- 

 cept very slightly. The children knew it so well that they 

 could talk and write it as well as they could their regular 

 language. They were able to carry on as extended a con- 

 versation as they desired, and any one unacquainted with 

 Tut Language could no better understand what was being 

 said than if it were a foreign tongue. 



The following may be of some interest: 



1. Declension of / in Tut. 



(ks) kwissis 



Sing. 

 Nom. I 



Poss. mum-yek 



Obj. mum-e 



, Declension of ox. 

 Nom. o-x 



Poss. o-x-suss 



Obj. o-x 



, Comparison of good. 

 Positive, 

 Comparative, 

 Superlative, 



Plu. 

 wuv-e 



o-u-rur, or, o-u-rur-suss. 

 u-suss. 



o-x-e-nun 



o-x-e-nun-suss 



o-x-e-nun 



gug-o-o-dud 



bub-e-tut-tut-e 



bub-e-suss-tut. 



This young lady traced the origin of Tut Language as 

 follows: She learned it from her mothor's servant, a negro 

 girl, this girl learned it from a negro girl who got it at a 

 female negro school at Austin, Texas, where it was 

 brought by a negro girl from Galveston, Texas, who 

 learned it from a negro girl who had come from Jamaica. 

 Whether it originated in the Island of Jamaica or was 

 carried there I cannot state, as inquiries were able to be 

 made no further than the above. 



Perhaps the most striking thing in this language is its 

 close resemblance to the alphabetic languages given in 

 "Am Ur-Quell." These are "Guitar Language," from 

 Bonyhad, Hungary, "Bob Language," from Czernowitz, 

 Austria, and "A-Bub-Cin-Dud Language," from Ber- 

 len. I give here the four alphabets for comparison: 

 Guitar. Bob. A-Bub-Cin-Dud. Tut. 



Wow wuf 



(k & s) kwissos iks 

 i,p,s,i,l,o,n ypsilon 



zit zausis 



yec. 

 zuz 



The Guitar Language, so writes the relator, was used 

 sixty years ago by the pupils of a school at Bonyhad, and 

 this party was so expert in its use at that time as to be 

 able to recall it and write it now. The Bob Language 

 was used at school when the writer (in "Am Ur-Quell") 

 was a pupil. The one who gives an account of this 

 A-Bub-Cin-Dud Language states that he found the 

 alphabet among some old scraps of paper at his home, but 

 he is not able to say whether this was ever used at his 

 home (Bergischen) or not. 



As I stated at the first, if one will go back into memory 

 he will find traces remaining of these child languages. In 

 my own experience I recall three such as occurring in my 

 boyhood days at my home at Gosport, Ind. : 



1. Wilvus youvus go with usvus ? This comes ringing 

 in my ears as though it were only but yesterday since I 

 used it. 



2. Also we boys had a language in which we turned 

 the words around, as: boy = yob. Thus if a boy got 

 very much vexed and wanted to be expressive, he said 

 "mad-dog." 



3. I recall, too, that at one time some of us boys under- 

 took to make up a language. I cannot give anything 

 more of this, as it comes to me only as a faint recollection. 

 I am quite sure, though, that this language was not car- 

 ried very far nor ran very long. 



4. I recall, also, a language used by some pupils in a 

 school in Indiana, in which I taught some years ago. This 

 was a number language. Each letter of the alphabet 

 had a number to represent it, as: a ^ 5, c = 9, t ^ 10, 

 etc. Thus: cat = 9-5-10. 



This paper is not meant to be exhaustive, but only to 

 give a peep into an unexplored field of child life. It is to 

 be hoped that some day we will become much better 

 acquainted with our boys and girls than we are now. 



(w) vop 



vemp 



PARASITISM OF MOLOTHRUS ATER. 



BY CHAS. W. HARGITT, PH. D., SYRACUSE UNIVEESITY, SYRACUSE, N. Y. 



Op the few members of our avifauna known to be 

 addicted to the habit of parasitism, none is perhaps more 

 thoroughly confirmed therein than the common cow-bird 

 {Molothrus aler). This habit is so well known that no par- 

 ticular attention need be called to it as a record of fact or 

 as a matter important for general information. The pur- 

 pose of this note is simply to record some interesting 

 observations recently made in reference to a host which, 

 so far as my own observations have gone, has not been 

 generally considered as involved in its mischievous usur- 

 pations, though Wilson (Am. Ornithologj'-, vol. I., p. 289) 

 mentions it as of the number liable to such impositions. 



Upon two occasions during the present summer I have 

 noted the very ludicrous spectacle of the full-grown 

 young of the cow-bird being fed by the chipping sparrow 

 (Spizella aocialis). One of these observations was made on 

 one of the hottest days of July, and the diminutive little 

 foster-mother panted with mouth wide open as she sought 

 food to satiate the rapacious appetite of the adopted waif. 

 The note of Hatch upon a similar observation made of a 

 similar feat of the Maryland yellow-throat is so apposite 

 to the case in question that I quote it entire: "One of the 

 most comical spectacles ever falling under my observation 

 in bird life has been the appearance of a young cow-bird» 

 nearly large enough to take to its wings, still sitting on (in 

 was impossible) the nest of the Maryland yellow-throat, 



