LXXXV.] 
OF SELBORNE. 
231 
delighting in conquest and devastation ; but I would be thought 
only to mean that many of the winged tribes have various 
sounds and voices adapted to express their various passions, 
wants, and feelings ; such 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 eagle-kind are shrill and piercing ; and about 
the season of nidification much diversified, as I have been often 
owl's Eoa. 
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 ex]Dressive 
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 a horriljle scream ; and 
can snore and hiss when they mean to menace. Kavens, 
besides their loud croak, can exert a deep and solemn note 
that makes the woods echo ; the amorous sound of a crow is 
strange and ridiculous ; rooks, in the breeding season, attempt 
