The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-10


danger from an unknown enemy on the
ground is heard every bird in the flock
ceases feeding With necks elongated,
looking carefully in every direction, the
flock circles around until It has covered
an area great enough to show that the
alarm was groundless.
when feeding In a field where the food
Is plentiful and OF the kind 1t likes, the
turkey has sound Of contentment, vary
ing at the different stages, until the final
word from the patriarch Of the flock checks
the meal instantly. and away they CO. The
turkey also has words or sounds of def
ance, often combined with the gobble OF
the male. Its vocabulary includes a ring
ing note Of exultation when he has con-
quered n foe. and distinct and character
istic expressions for envy. want, pain.
pleasure alarm or comfort.
Generally the song of the singing bird
Is merely a call for its mate. When the
canary in its gilded cage sings its loudest,
II Is usually a call of agony, instead OF
pleasure. 1t is pouring out music from
its throat In the mad endeavor to call its
absent mate TO Its side. Correctly inter-
preted, 1t Is an appeal for freedom, an APP
peal for the happiness Of old. when, with
It's mate, II wandered free in the empire
of the air. The male singer has a love
song which II pours out in the prodigality
of It's happiness when the love dream Is
young. 1t has also q low, soothing song
which It sings to its mate while she Is
nesting. The bird songs OF the fall are
for pleasure only. Few sing much beyond
the courtship and breeding season. The
notes Of the songbird therefore, are more
or less those of want, of pleasure and of
love.
'In my Investigations have found that
the hen bird of the domestic chicken has
as fluent a command of language as all
- ~ f1At ri n
She is a much more fluent talker than the
male. her lord and master, and her vo-
cabulary discounts anything thus far dis
covered in this particular field OF investi-
CATION. The cackle OF the hen Is used, for
instance, for three distinct purposes, and
she has as many distinctive notes. She
uses In seeking the nest or when calling
her mate one soft note; another, Of tr.-
umphant rejoicing as she either flies from
the nest or to 1t. Likewise, she has three
distinct songs OF distinct types, the love
song, q happy response to the eager court
ing of her mate; the song OF indifference,
when idly hunting for food, indicating no
certain purpose in her movements: the lul-
laby song. low, grooming. soothing note,
hushing the young chickens to sleep.
II have frequently experimental with
the lullaby song by initiating the low,
soothing notes, and little chickens held in
the hands and thus sung to in the language
they understand will quickly fall asleep.
The mother hen has also various notes for
warning her brood. She uses harsh,
sharp combination Of cackle and cry to
warn them of a snake or an unknown OBJ
ject on the ground, while to notify them
that she considers certain food unfit for
them she utiizes variation of the slum-
Der song. certain sharp, prolonged note
IL used by the hen to keep strange chick
ems from her brood, and how well the lit
tie fluffy mites understand the mother
tongue may be noted In any poultry yard
how twenty hens with as many broods.
nearly all of the same age, will keep ev-
cry member of their particular families
I'M line. There is no mixing the babies in
the chicken world. Every littlef chick
knows its protectors call, and the mother
hen knows the Individual progeny for
which she holds herself responsible.
There is, too among the birds silent
language. 1t Is used almost wholly by the
males. Let two cock birds, strangers to
each other, meet on neutral territory. Is
It to be war or peace? The die is cast
without exchange of words or loss Of time.
One flaps his wings, then straightens the
wing nearest the stranger, letting 1t go
as far and not below the saddle feathers,
ruffles up the feathers on his neck and
looks inquiringly at the other. IL the
other bird executes half-hop OF the
ers, raises the feathers Of neck and sings
a low note, it is an evidence of humble
ness He is afraid of his opponent. But,
on the other hand, If he returns the defiant
salutation in kind a battle royal follows.
1.-The quail, Mormon of the fowl family.
is also the possessor of vocabulary some
what more extensive than the majority OF
his kind, but not SO large as that of the
domestic hen. Because of the HABITS of
the bird and the inability to catch his nat
ural moods in captivity, little progress has
thus far been made In interpreting the
sounds which comprise his language.
I'm the near future we shall be able to
group the language of the various MEM
bers of the fowl family into comprehen-
sive whole and show how they have been
talking among themselves for untold CEN
turtles, and how the language of the birds
is amply sufficient for their environment
and needs pathfinder.