Ornithology. 107 



other soft-billed warblers, fully accounts for their soft, round, 

 mellow notes, compared with the shrill, sharp and clear 

 ones of the Canary and other hard-billed songsters. In a 

 comprehensive sense, the complete song of birds includes all 

 the notes they are capable of uttering ; and, taken in this 

 sense, it is analogous to the speech of man. It is the vehicle 

 through which these little creatures communicate and convey 

 to each other their mutual wishes and wants. It may be 

 divided into six distinct separate sounds or parts, each of 

 which is very expressive, even to us, of the feelings which 

 agitate the bird at the moment. To describe their song more 

 fully, we shall divide it in the following manner: First, the 

 call note of the male in spring ; second, the loud, clear, ardent, 

 fierce notes of defence ; third, the soft, tender, full, melodious, 

 love warble ; fourth, the notes of fear or alarm, when danger 

 approaches the nest ; fifth, the note of alarm or war cry, 

 when a bird of prey appears ; sixth, the note the parent birds 

 utter to their brood, and the chirp or note of the young. 

 The note of the young may be again divided into two, — that 

 which they utter while in the nest, and the chirp after they 

 leave it, — for they are very distinct sounds or notes ; to which 

 may be added, a soft, murmuring kind of note, omitted by the 

 male while he is feeding the female in the nest ; and also by 

 her while she is receiving the food. The call note, the warble 

 of love, and the notes of defiance, or prelude to battle, seem 

 only to be understood by birds of the same species, at least 

 in a wild state. Perhaps in a state of domestication, birds of 

 different genera, if nearly allied, may partially comprehend 

 these notes, as the canary bird does the notes of the siskin, 

 the goldfinch and the linnet. But this, we think, is more 

 occasioned by necessity than by choice in these birds ; and, 

 in this case, it is man who breaks down the barriers which 

 nature has so wisely put between different species. The 

 note of fear or alarm of the cock bird, by which he gives 

 notice to the hen of the approach of danger near the nest, 

 and which she perfectly understands — for she either keeps 

 close, or quietly makes her escape ; this note, we think, is 

 only comprehended by birds of the same species, though we 

 have certainly seen birds of different genera appear as if 

 alarmed by this note of fear, sounded by a bird of different 

 species and genus ; but whether it was the note that alarmed 

 them, or our presence, we cannot say. But we are pretty 

 sure, the notes of parent birds, and the chirp of the young, 

 are only understood by birds of the same species, or rather 

 we should say, family, for it appears to be a family language, 



