VOICES OF BIRDS. 
186 
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ble dialects, created or compounded as his wants oc- 
curred, or his ideas prompted; or obtained by inter- 
course with others, as mental enlargement or novelty 
necessitated new words to express new sentiments. 
Could we find a people from Japan or the Pole, whose 
progress in mind has been stationary, without increase 
of idea, from national prejudice or impossibility of com- 
munication 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 ac- 
quired. With civilized man, every thing 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, ex- 
cites 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 comprehension, and this is the sig- 
nal 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 infor- 
mation of some prowling cat or weasel. Some give 
the maternal hush to their young, and mount to inquire 
into the jeopardy announced. The wren, that tells of 
perils from the hedge, soon collects about her all the 
various inquisitive species within hearing, to survey and 
ascertain the object, and add their separate fears. The 
swallow, that shrieking darts in devious flight through 
the air when a hawk appears, not only calls up all the 
hirundines of the village, but is instantly understood by 
every finch and sparrow, and its warning attended to. 
As Nature, in all her ordinations, had a fixed design 
and foreknowledge, it may be that each species had a 
