54 NATURAL HISTORY 



as anger, fear, love, hatred, hunger, and the 

 like. All species are not equally eloquent ; 

 some are copious and fluent, as it were, in 

 their utterance, while others are confined 

 to a few important sounds : no bird, like 

 the fish kind, is quite mute, though some 

 are rather silent. The language of birds 

 is very ancient, and like other ancient 

 modes of speech, very elliptical ; little is 

 said, but much is meant and understood. 



The notes of the eagie-kind are shrill and 

 piercing ; and about the season of nidifica- 

 tion much diversified, as I have been often 

 assured by a curious observer of Nature, 

 who long resided at Gibraltar , where eagles 

 abound. The notes of our hawks much 

 resemble those of the king of birds. Owls 

 have very expressive notes ; they hoot in a 

 fine vocal sound, much resembling the vox 

 humana, and reducible by a pitch-pipe to a 

 musical key. This note seems to express 

 complacency and rivalry among the males : 

 they use also a quick call and an horrible 

 scream ; and can snore and hiss when they 

 mean to menace. Ravens^ beside their 



