214 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
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 : httle 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 di\^ersified, as I h^ve be^n 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 
liumana, 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 horrible scream ; and can snore 
and hiss when they mean to menace. Ravens, besides their loud 
croak, can exert a deep and solemn note that makes the woods 
to echo ; the amorous sound of a crow is strange and ridiculous ; 
rooks, in the breeding season, attempt sometimes in the gaiety 
of their hearts to sing, but with no great success ; the parrot- 
kind have many modulations of voice, as appears by their aptitude 
to learn human sounds ; doves coo in an amorous and mournful 
manner, and are emblems of despairing lovers ; the woodpecker 
sets up a sort of loud and hearty laugh ; the fern-owl, or goat- 
sucker, from the dusk till day-break, serenades his mate with the 
clattering of castanets. All the tuneful passeres express their 
complacency by sweet modulations, and a variety of melody. 
The swallow, as has been observed in a former letter, by a shriD 
alarm bespeaks the attention of the other hirundines, and bids 
them be aware that the hawk is at hand. Aquatic and gregarious 
birds, especially the nocturnal, that shift their quarters in the 
dark, are very noisy and loquacious ; as cranes, wild-geese, wild- 
ducks, and the like : their perpetual clamour prevents them from 
dispersing and losing their companions. 
In so extensive a subject, sketches and outlines are as much 
as can be expected ; for it would be endless to instance in all the 
infinite variety of the feathered nation. We shall therefore con- 
fine the remainder of this letter to the few domestic fowls of our 
yards, which are most known, and therefore best understood. 
* Several fishes are known to utter sounds : the gurnets, for instance, all of which have a 
peculiar grunt, or other cry, when taken out of the water. — Ed. 
