The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-01-02
vENTRlIoQU1sM AMONG THE BIRDS.

There are many accomplishments
which the lower animals seem to pos.
sess inherently, but which man can
only gain through great application.
It would take long time for boy
to learn to make the sort of snare that
spider spins instinctively, and a
colony of beavers can build better
dam than can a crowd of unframed
men.
One of the human accomplishments
hard to learn is ventriloquism. 1t
seems to be a gift which comes to but
few of the human species; yet among
birds there are species every individ-
ual of which possess the power of
making the voice seem to come from
another spot than that in which the
owner is located.
There seems to be very little reason
for this in most cases, but still there
must be some, for nature is very eco
nomical in bestowing her gifts, and
one may be sure that the possession
of the power argues its usefulness.
The first example of ventriloquism
which will occur to most people is the
voice of the mourning dove. sup
pose that every boy has been fooled
by this bird. 1 know that I was and
was delighted when discovered,
after walking around tree in the
orchard, that the voice did not come
from far away but close at hand.
When the mourning dove utters
his call he swells up air-sacs in his
breast and neck, and these act as a
sort of sounding chamber, which tends
to hold and repress the sound, as a
sound is made in barrel. The emu
has the same quality in his voice. 1t
is as though these birds swallow their
voices.
The crow has some notes which are
very ventriloquial in quality. One
note in particular is much like the
bark of distant dog, so much so, in
fact, that I had trouble in convincing
a friend that it was the voice of a
crow about three hundred feet away
and not that of a distant dog. The
chickadee has call-note of such
quality that its source is always un-
certain until the bird is located.
The oven birds teacher teach
er |" always seems to come from sew
eral feet higher than where the bird
is actually standing.
The thrushes, at least the wood
thrush and the robin, have peculiar
habit of singing to themselves, as it
were. Often, as I have been sitting
in the woods, wood thrush has been
singing, say, thirty feet away, which
1 supposed was at least 200 yards
away, until I discovered the bird.
The whispered sopg is perfect, SO far
as phrasing and notes are concerned,
but in a very low key.
l have heard a European thrush
sing in a cage at the zoo when the
notes could not be heard farther than
fifteen feet. With my ear within
three feet the song was as perfect and
beautiful as in the ordinary way.
Why these birds sing so have no
idea.
The peculiar wattles on the neck of
a guinea fowl had no significance to
me until one day when was making
a careful drawing of a wild guinea
fowl. The wild guinea cock has wat
ties as the domestic one, only exag-
gerated. noticed that when the
cocks beak was toward me his harsh
call was louder. Then noticed that
when his beak was open the lower
mandible, being lowered, almost filled
the space between the two side wat
ties, thus making cup, and that the
notes were thrown by sort Of mega
phone, or just as a boy throws his
voice by making cup of his hands.
ST. Nicholas.