Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1872-12-21
LANGUAGE OF BIRDS AND INSECTS.

natural aptness for initiating the hu-
man voice being such that it has appa-
rently required no very great exagger-
alton of their actual powers to make
them play the part of very intelligent
and discreet takers. Plutarch narrates,
on the authority of witnesses, a sto-
ry of the very singular conduct of a
magpie that was quite musical prodi-
gy. This magpie was all the while re-
peating words and initiating the sounds
of Instruments; not indeed, says the
narrator, from any training, but simply
from an extraordinary ambition it had
to leave nothing unspoken which it
heard, and to perfect itself by intense
study in all kinds of music; so that it's
tongue was always going with the great
est variety of sounds imaginable. 1t
belonged to barber, who kept it at
his shop in Rome, just opposite the
Greek forum. 1t happened that rich
man of the neighborhood having died,
the funeral procession, accompanied by
many trumpeters, halted and made a
long stop before the barbcr's shop; and
the music pleasing the people was pro-
longed and repeated. The magpie lis
tened, and from that day was altogether
mute, not so much as uttering the usual
notes by which it made its wants known.
This was matter of great wonder to
those who had been accustomed to
pass by the shop and listen to the bird;
and some attributed it's silence to witch
craft, though the greater number were
of the opinion that the noise of the
trumpets had struck it deaf. No such
thing, says Plutarch; the birds unusual
silence proceeded from its Studying over
i'll secret the music it had heard; fer
one day it suddenly came out with all
the tlourishes of the tr,mpcts, observ-
ing with the greatest exactness of time
all the changes and cadcnces of the
harmony.
We have some striking examples of
the use of language by those of the
insect tribes which live in societies.
When an ants nest is disturbed. those
upon the surface transmit the alarm to
those i'll the interior, and they all i'm
mediateio set about carrying the larvae
and pupn to the lowest apartments.
which they seem instinctively to regard
rs the safest and most secure. If the
ruins OF the nest are scattered upon tho
floor, tho ants set out in u thousand
different directions to discover some
place Of retreat and assoon as any one
of them finds little cllink in the wall
or in the floor, through which they can
escape, il runs to It's companions and
tells them of the discovery it has made,
and perhaps guides them to the spot
In Il very little while the news spreads
through al the tribe, and they are soon
far away in some snug place OF reun-
ion.
The naturalist Gould tried curious
experiment with a colony of ants, which
furnishes us with further proof of their
communicating together. He put them
in 1lowcrpot, which was surrounded
with water, SO as to prevent their leav-
ing it. After Il few days he stretched
several threads from the upper part of
tho hower-pot to point beyond the
water, and presently one of the ants
detected the bridge, and communicated
the discovery to the others; when in
little while the threads were covered
with these busy bodies passing and re-
passing over them.
Dr.. Franklin tells us how one day
finding some ants feasting on some del
icacy they had found in his closet, he
shook them out, and suspended the ar
ticle by Il string from the ceiling. It
CHANGED, however, that one ant was
left; and, after eating it's fill it found
its way up the string and along the wall
to its nest. In less than half an hour
great company of ants sailed out of
their hole, and crept along the ceiling
and down the string to the sweet which
was consumed. The Doctor inferred
that the first ant had communicated to
its comrades the new position Of their
delicacy, and directed them the only
way to it.
Margave gives singular account of
the assemblies of the Onarine MONKEYS
which he had frequently witnessed.
They assemble in the woods, and one of
them, taking the highest place in tho
tree, makes signal with his hand for
the rest to sit round. AS soon as he
sees them placed he begins his discourse
III loud and precipitatc voice. and the
rest observe profound silence. When
he has finished his speech he makes a
sign with his hand for the rest to reply
at which they all raise their voices to-
gether, until by another signal they
are enjoined to be silent. Before the
assembly breaks up there may be q
repetition of these scenes.
Very many gregarious birds appoint
sentinals, who keep very strict watch
while the rest of the flock gather food
or disport themselves at their leisure.
Everybody has seen the crow sentinel
perched upon the top of some tree,
where he keeps very sharp lookout
and gives the signal of alarm upon
of danger, at which the
whole flock instantly take fight. Not
only from the birds of the air and the
beasts of the field do we derive our illus
tratioas of the fact that brutes COM