The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-07-28
THR VOICES OF THE BIRDS.
Tuueful Songs and Barsh CroakinGs
That Fill Meadow and Wood.
Eror, fbe TIro7, Tt,aee

That Fill Meadow and Wood.
From the Troy Times
Matinee every day seats free. Performance
commences at o'clock a. m. All are in
vited that are wide enough awake to listen.
Thus announces Natures orchestral man
ager. Spring comes in with this matinee
Summer sees the hight Of this out
door concert, and autumn brings the adj
journment Of this open air enter tainment
till the first day of the next spring.
AS soon as Aurora with her rosy fingers
draws aside the curtains of night and APP
pears at the opening the concert begins
"Copse, rock and river ring again on fine
spring morning." The melody finds its way
20 the heart Of every one, or would, If sleep
had not so looked the outward senses that
the heart cannot be reached. Chanticleer
opens with his shrill oock-a-doodle-do-o-o.
When one begins TO sing, the whole wood
soon manifests its sympathy by a general
chorus, and the songs inspire delight in the
breast of all the feathered songsters. They
care not that men are not listening; they
sing their sweetest songs to one another (;
they are telling their brethren of their hap
piness, they are singing their songs of love,
they are chanting the same songs OF praise
that the morning stare sang together when
the world was created and God pronounced
It good, they are carpling OF hope for days
to come and of joy in the days that are.
The deep blue heaven is full of voices of
unseen birds that hutter at the pale portal
of morning. Matinee closes promptly at
O'Clock O. n. After that each bird sings
solo or chorus. as he pleases, but all through
the day they keep up their constant chirp-
ing:
not musical, unless one has an ear for fling
and saving. Their language is too rich in
consonants; it is decidedly Saxon, and
without the softening accents of the Nor
man French. The call of something found
is quite as Ineligible as the town crier with
his bell. The defiant voice Of the cock is a
challenge in honest vernacular, and his tri-
umphant crow is a hurrah IN plain English.
The announcement of an egg laid is express
cluck is veritabie baby talk, and the yeep,
eep, eep of the little chicks denotes happi-
ness at home"
How soon these httle fellows learn the
cluck, cluck of their mother warning them
that the robber hawk is soaring watchfully
above, seeking whom he may devour.
The blue jay hates yet breads the hawk,
and frequently insults it by following and
initiating its notes SO exactly as to deceive
those well acquainted with both.
The approach of danger is expressed by a
universally Ineligible cry. The bluetis
has peculiar sound, "iss" 80 indicative of
fear and terror that when heard the wood
is silent in an instant. 1t is said that she
often utters it from pure love of mischief.
Every bird" says Bechstein, has re-
ceived from nature the power of uttering a
song or certain sound by which it can COM
municate its desires to other birds. The
chafilnch's call varies with its feelings
when on the wing it is 'Eyakl Eyaki Its
expression Of Joy is Fink Finkp II angry
it makes the same call more quickly, and
'Triefi TriefP is the sign Of tenderness or
melancholy. Tbs raven calls out 'Grsab |
GraabI' slowly or rapidly, as its emotions
change"
The sportive notes of birds are character
lied in many books of natural history. We
copy few Tiou Tiou! Tioul Spel Squa
Tiol Tio Ito Tiki Coutio Coutio Tzu,
tzu, tzul Dzorre, dzorre, dzorre! Tzatu,
tzatu! Quia, quia, quis! zozozozol XII
gaigaigaiRaiRai!
No bird is better known to US than the
robin. Its song Is sweet and plaintive; it
rises early and goes TO bed late; It loves 30
dwell and nestle near to man, and has an
air of sprightliness and confidence which
endears it to Us all.
The songs of birds may be divided into
six uttersnces. The call note of the mate
in spring, the loud, clear note of defiance,
the note OF fear when danger threatens the
nest, the note Of alarm or war cry, The note
of affection for their young, the soft, ten
der. full, melodious love MARBLE
The hooking bird has voice full strong
and musical, capable of almost every mod
ulation, from the mellow tones of the wood
thrush to the savage screams of the bald
eagle. He whistles for the dog, and Trip
gets up, wags his tail, and runs to meet his
a Il Hp q IN tofi bon,
and the hen hurries about with bristeling
feathers and dropping wings to protect its
brood. He Quavers like the canary: he
whistles like the redbird; he means like the
whippoorwill; all these he mocks with such
superior skill and effect that the mortified
songsters feel their own inferioritY and be-
come altogether silent.
The peacock, glittering with jewel-like
eyes, has voice by no means suited to its
beauty. Its cry is harsh and disagreeable.
When 1t rains 1t sits on some high perch
uttering Its doleful sounds, with its beauti-
full tail feathers drawn into the smallest
possible space. Like a vain creature as it
is. 1t never spreads its fan unless the sun
shines.
Gardner's Music of Nature pleasantly
talks thus: "In the summer morn what a
chorus Of BIRDS Caroling AMI training
their Threats 10 hail the coming deyl Hid
In the tangled hedgerow the loquacious
magpie is chattering to the jay. High in
the orchestra of the woods the rocks at
tempt to sing, but with no success, and the
woodpecker. that critic Of the grove sets
up his loud and hearty laugh. The lowest
notes belong to the cormorant, who is the
basso in his tribe. The blackbird with his
chink, chink, mounts the towering ash to
wake the day; the throstle on the tree.
with Warbling tune
Welcomes the sweet rosy June"
Tru urnnvuoo rrns tho roads f-oaI,, s.ra