THE VOICE. 
59 
the screams of a child in the act of being tortured to 
death in the most fiendish manner. Sometimes one 
hears loud shrieks of pain, followed by a low sigh; at 
others, stifled groans, a wail dying away in the distance, 
and then, again, the most heart-rending screams. 
America possesses several inveterate screechers. In the 
northern portion of that continent the Pinnated Grouse 
(Tetrao cu'pido) howls, as for a wager, against the wolves 
of the prairies; in the South the “Toropisju” of the 
Peruvians, one of the Umbrella-birds ( Cephalopterus 
ornatus) brays like a trumpeter, from which it gets its 
name; the red “Tunqui” will grunt like a porker; the 
screaming of the “Arara,” or Macaw, is perfectly deaf¬ 
ening. In addition to these we have now the feathered 
inhabitants of the virgin forest, which mostly call in loud 
tones, and are to be looked upon as the real awakeners of 
life in the woods. 
It is a curious fact, that all impetuous and thievish 
birds have remarkably loud and repulsive voices. Birds 
of prey, Herons, Ravens, and gallinaceous birds gene¬ 
rally, emit shrill disagreeable notes. So that the true 
character of the bird is unmistakably detected by the 
sound of its voice. There are, however, exceptions to 
this rule. According to Le Yaillant a species, the 
chanting Goshawk ( Melierax musicus ), allied to our Sparrow 
Hawk (F. Nisns ), gives utterance to a somewhat singular 
but melodious little song; the Warrior Eagle (Sjoizaetos 
bellicosus), of Central Africa, greets his friends and 
acquaintances with notes the reverse of harsh or dis¬ 
agreeable. 
It does not appear to us merely the result of accident 
that many singing and screaming birds show great 
peculiarity in the colouring of the feathers under the 
