1 889-] Dcvelopme7it of Bird Language. 95 
unruly, screaming or croaking member, 'tis true, yet a tangible 
something for us to hear and heed ; its products tangible too, 
for there is some attempt at combination and modulation there 
for discriminating ears. And so, from Pygopodes ascending, 
we start with promises, attempt and failure to climb the vocal 
scale through Longipennes upward. I will classify a few of the 
better known species illustrating the mimetic development of 
bird language into three, — i. Mimics of sounds in animate 
nature exclusive of other bird-notes : 2. Mimics of sounds in 
inanimate nature: 3. Mimics of song and human language. In 
the first class are many, probably a majority, whose notes in 
greater or less degree are intentionally imitative of those of 
other birds, and, for sake of illustration, are not so significant 
as those which (unlike the Mocking-bird, Catbird and Carolina 
ics of animate sounds produced in their immediate environ- 
ment. The Mocking-bird, Catbird, Shrike and Jay are studied 
and artistic imitators of their feathered associates, indicating the 
perfection to which bird-language has developed as an art, 
but if we would seek examples of the primary, instinctive exer- 
cise of the mimetic faculty, the notes of the Prairie, Bluewing, 
and Yellow warbler, the Grasshopper warbler of Europe, the 
Yellow-wing and Savannah sparrow together with most of 
those of the Ardeidae, Anatidae, Rallidee and of some of the bet- 
ter known Strigidae and P'alconidae, afibrd a better illustration. 
The resemblance of the notes of many smaller birds to those of 
insects of contemporary habitat is very noticeable in the songs 
of the five first mentioned in the above list. 
Each of these sings so like a grasshopper haunting its respec- 
tive locality as to deceive the unpracticed ear, causing the care- 
less observer to overlook them entirely. 
Among the lower orders, this ornithic mimicry, owing to the 
less complicated and exclamatory nature of their language, is 
more easily studied. To receive forcible proof of this, let the 
reader adventure on an April evening's tramp along our river 
marshes. To most, the novelty of such an experience would 
lend just the necessary stimulus to imagination and v hen, after 
