THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS. 25 
judice or impossibility of communication with others, 
we probably should find little or no alteration in the 
original language of that people ; so, by analogy of 
reasoning, the animal having no idea to prompt, no 
new want to express, no converse with others, (for 
a note caught, and uttered merely, is like a boy 
mocking the cuckoo,) so no new language is acquired. 
With civilized man, everything is progressive ; with 
animals, where there is no mind, all is stationary. 
Even the voice of one species of birds, except in par- 
ticular cases, seems not to be attended to by another 
species. That peculiar call of the female cuckoo 
which assembles so many contending lovers, and all 
the various amatorial and caressing language of 
others, excites no influence generally, that I am 
aware of ; with all but the individual species it is 
a dialect unknown. I know but one note which 
animals make use of, that seems of universal com- 
prehension, and this is, the signal of danger. The 
instant that it is uttered, we hear the whole flock, 
though composed of various species, repeat a separate 
moan, and away they all scuttle into the bushes 
for safety. The reiterated twink, twink, of the 
chaffinch, is known by every little bird as informa- 
tion of some prowling cat or weasel. 
D 
