The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-23
=. II. SMYTH,
Observer, Weather Bureau.
SURE THAT CHICKENS TALK.
a Baltimore Musical Directors obser.
vations and Final Conclusions.
From the New York Sun.


From the New York Sun.
Baltimore Nov. 17.-Prof. Asger Ham
erik, the director Of the Peabody Con-
servatory of Music and the composer Of
Morse symphonies says that he has made
the discovery that chickens have
language which he, by careful attention
and by experiments, has partially mas
tered. He says:
Chickens are the greatest gossips in
the world. ! knew they have language,
for when one is alone it will not talk at
all. 1t may, perhaps, sing a little song to
pass the time away, but it will not talk
to itself. AS soon, however as it meets
another the conversation will begin.
tt cir voices are sometimes sweet and
again harsh and discordant as is the case
with human beings With me it makes
great difference whether a fowls voice is
pleasant or disagreeable, though most
people do not seem to note the distinc-
ton. My chickens have nearly always
been of the Cochin China breed and to
them l have paid most attention natur-
ally. l have discovered that they have
very acute senses of vision, hearing and
taste, but they cannot smell. Their sense
of taste is excellently developed, and
after eating anything more than unus-
ually palatable they will give vent to an
exclamation Of pleasure, just as person
will say 'Ahn or something of that kind
under the same circumstances.
They are peculiarly susceptible to GER
tain colors. Red almost drives them
crazy, while blue is not to their liking by
any means. One day ! noticed that my
chickens in the back yard were in a ter
rible statesof excitement. / accidentally
found out the cause Of it. There was a
red curtain in the back window of house
4 1 10
at this and utter their notes of alarm.
got the lady of the house to have the cur
tain removed, and the commotion ceased.
/ tried an experiment with other colors,
but they did not seem to mind any but
blue, and this they did not like l found
if blue ribbon or string was tied one
chicken S leg all the rest would keep away
from it.
II have noticed that chickens can dis
tinguish between white and colored peo-
pie. For the latter they have special
aversion. Whether il is because they
know by instinct that negroes are so fond
of them for eating purposes or not / can
not say. once had five Cochin China
pullets, to which / gave the names of
Pete, Pet, Pat, Pit, Pot. Pete would
respond readily when her name was
called, but the others would come also
with the exception Of Pot who would
come when / called her. Pete would
come when / called Pit, Pat, or Pet.
showing that she could not distinguish
closely between the vowels ! and G
short. There was such difference be-
tween these and Pot that the latter would
recognize her name as soon as called If
the consonants were transposed, and /
would call Top instead Of Pot, she would
not notice.
Growing among ROSTERS is a most in
teresting study. | have noted the crows
of over 100 ROSTERS and ! have never
found two alike. One may crow in
this manner: um-didi-didi;' another
may go: 'Dum-didi-didi-didi, and so on.
The crow is nearly always between u
O'Clock a. m and 10 o'clock m, and is
from three to seven seconds in duration.
BOOSTERS begin TO crow at dawn and those