The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-09-22
CROW CAN TALK
LIKE A MAN

sonian Institution, is back in Washing
ton after an absence OF four weeks,
and. in consequence, Jack" Mr..
Woods's pet crow and champion talk
ing bird of the district, is in a high
state of jubilation.
Jack spent the interim during his
masters absence with a family in the
northeastern part of the city. But ne
has not received any advances of
friendship made to him, INDUCED in few
or no remarks, and, in fact, sulked and
dropped all the time. But as soon as he
heard Mr.. Woods's voice at the front
door of the house, Jacks entire de-
meanor became metamorphosed. His
dropping feathers became again erect
and sleek, his beady black eyes giis-
tened, he sprang to the bars of his cage
and manifested every sign of laboring
under the most intense excitement.
Hello, Jack! Hullo. Woods! hullo!
hullo. hulloi hal ha, hal" were his ex-.
CARNATIONS as he danced around the
cage in an ecstasy of enjoyment and
expectation.
| At sight of his master Jacks glad
| ness and hilarity knew no bounds. Mr.
| Woods had to take him out of his cage.
| II wouldn't give that bird exclaim-
ed Jacks delighted owner, for 800,
000,"
Jack" is, indeed, a wonderful bird,
| paragon of crows. He shores his mas
ter's peculiar faculty of being able to
/ initiate the cries of all other birds in
I -, @t,o
Woods reproduce the various calls of
chickens, turkeys, sparrows, whip-poor-
wills, robins and others, and to hear
Jack do the same. and to see the bird
whose natural cries are thus mimicked,
| respond to both deceivers is something
worth witnessing and hearing. This
faculty in the man is, of course, more
remarkable than it is in the crow, the
organs of whose throat, like those Of
parrots and other talking birds, are
especially adapted by nature for this
purpose. Mr.. Woods will tell you that
he first began to exercise this power of
/ initiating the various calls of birds
when he was boy in a farm.
'It simply came naturally to me- ne
says. land l thought nothing at all
about there being anything extraor-
binary in it until 1 came to a city. and
| then those who heard me give the var
| ious notes and calls expressed them
selves much astonished, especially when
1 they observed, as some had an oppor-
tunity of doing, that the birds initiated
responded to the sounds. This led me
to keep up the practice of initiating the
birds in what might almost be termed
their language. and the consequence is
a peculiar adaptable of the muscles
x0f fl1T-<l 30 H. fcas
| Mr.. Woods said that birds have al
most a language of their own.
"Of course" he continued, ANY met
had for the Interchange of thought or
feeling is a language. But birds have
a systematized series of sounds which
convey definite ideas. They have their
mating or love language, an eloquent
gamut of sounds, each of which pro-
claims and expresses ideas of endear-
ment They have their calls Oh alarm
| one cry, in the case of the chicken. for
| instance, signifying to her young the
appearance of a chicken hawk perhaps;
another. denoting that an enemy is ap-
preaching in a certain direction on the
ground; another, calling to the young
chickens to take refuge underneath her
wings. These calls are all distinct and
| may be initiated so as to be responded
| to, for a time at least, and until the
chicks find they are being deceived.
The notes OF singing birds Mr.. Woods
does not profess to be able to repro
duce, though he is an enthusiastic OBJ
server and student of these, as of all
other characteristics of the feathered
tribe. The song of the nightingale par
tfcularly has engaged his attention, and
he gives the following as a fair record
of its song:
Tiouou. tiouou. tinouou, tinouou,
Shpe. tiou, tokoua;
Tic, ito, ito. ito.
Kououtio, kououtiou, kouotiou, kou-
tioutio
Tskuo, tskouo, tskouo. tskouo,
Tsii, tsii, tsii, tsii, tsii, tsii, tsii,
tsii, tsii. tsii. tsii,
Kouorror, tiou. tksoua, pipitksousis.
Tso tso. tso, tso, tso, tso, tso, tso, tso,
tso, tso, tsirrhading.
Isl, tsi, 81, tosi, 81, ST ST. 81, 81, 81 81, 81,
Tsorre, tsorre, tsorre, tsorreeki.
Tsatu, tsatu. tsatu, tsatu, tsatu. tsatu.
Tsatu. tsi, kouiou. trrrrrrrrrrtzt,
Lu, III, III, ly, ly, ly, Ii. H. Ii, u.
Washington Post