ORGANS OF VOICE. 
57 
on the construction of the windpipe itself ; and several, as the 
Duck tribe, are very curiously formed. It usually consists 
of a straight tube, of a stiff horny character, sometimes of 
uniform diameter throughout, at other times gradually 
swelling towards the middle, or with roundish enlarged 
cavities, as in the tufted and golden-eyed Ducks, though 
these enlargements are more frequently at the end of the 
tube. The first of the annexed figures represents the tube, 
the second the horny cavity, and the third, twisted windpipe, 
is that of the Crane, which is singularly bent, as it enters 
within the breast hone; the cleft end is the internal termina- 
tion; the other, its junction with the mouth. 
It would he needless to dwell upon the infinite variety 
of notes of birds, hut a few of the most striking deserve 
notice. 
In this country, 
we find, indeed, 
few peculiarities ; 
hut, nevertheless, 
there are some. 
— Thus, everybody 
knows that Jack- 
daws, Starlings, 
and Magpies, may 
he taught to speak 
words, like Par- 
rots ; hut near a 
clergyman’s house, 
in Northampton- 
shire, a blackbird The Blackbird, 
was in the habit of 
crowing constantly, as accurately as a common cock, and 
nearly as loud. Perched upon the top hough of an ash- tree, 
it might he seen crowing away; occasionally indulging in 
its natural song, hut this only for a second or two; for it soon 
began again to crow; and when the cocks from a neigh- 
bouring poultry -yard answered it, the little bird seemed de- 
lighted, and seemed as if it was trying to rival them in the 
