136 BIRDS AND MAN 



the larger birds of all orders the effect produced 

 is different, and often the reverse of pleasant. 

 Or if such sounds delight us, the feeling differs 

 in character from that produced by the melodious 

 singer, and is mainly due to that wildness with 

 which we are in sympathy expressed by such 

 sounds. Human-like voices are found among 

 the auks, loons, and grebes ; eagles and falcons ; 

 cuckoos, pigeons, goatsuckers, owls, crows, rails, 

 ducks, waders, and gaUinaceous birds. The cries 

 and shrieks of some among these, particularly 

 when heard, in the dark hours, in deep woods 

 and marshes and other solitary places, pro- 

 foundly impress and even startle the mind, and 

 have given rise aU the world over to numberless 

 superstitious beliefs. Such sounds are supposed 

 to proceed from devils, or from demons inhabit- 

 ing woods and waters and all desert places ; 

 from night- wandering witches ; spirits sent to 

 prophesy death or disaster ; ghosts of dead men 

 and women wandering by night about the world 

 in search of a way out of it ; and sometimes 

 human beings who, burdened with dreadful 

 crimes or irremediable griefs, have been changed 

 into birds. The three British species best known 



