﻿STRENGTH OF VOICE. 



171 



after a long spring day walk, than a sunny bank of 

 primroses, where we can watch the varied evolutions of 

 different companies of these birds, and u idly speculate" 

 upon the meaning of their language, by the results 

 which follow. Sometimes a single crow will leave the 

 flanks of its company, and after uttering two or three 

 caws, in a very peculiar tone, wheel off in a totally dif- 

 ferent direction to that in which the rest are going, 

 without turning to see whether his companions will 

 follow him ; but the signal is not lost to the leaders of 

 the company ; they turn the column, and, after a semi- 

 circular evolution, they all follow after the instigator of 

 the movement, who is then, perhaps, a quarter of a 

 mile ahead. Human language cannot speak more plainly 

 than this ; it is the expression and the communication 

 of ideas, and yet the crow is destitute of the power of 

 singing. Further instances are quite unnecessary to 

 show the radical difference between the two sorts of 

 language in birds ; a distinction which those who have 

 written on the subject seem to have completely over- 

 looked. 



(146.) Strength of voice is one of the characteristics 

 of the Rasorial order, and of its types through the whole 

 of the Insessorial circles; but the volume of sound which 

 they utter, is not only devoid of all melody, but is 

 monotonous and discordant. The crowing of the cock, 

 although in some measure pleasing from poetic or other 

 associations, is nevertheless harsh and grating to the ear, 

 particularly if often repeated, while the cackle of the 

 hen is quite as tireing and monotonous as the clapper 

 of a mill. The natural cries of the parrot family are 

 only loud and hideous screams, which echo through 

 their native woods, and stun the visitors of menageries. 

 Turkeys, partridges, and peasants, have more or less 

 the same character of voice, so that the only harmony 

 to be found among the whole of the Rasores must be 

 looked for in the most aberrant family — the pigeons, 

 whose cooing is particularly soft and soothing. We 

 may trace the discordant voice of the true Rasorial birds 



