The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1912-05-11
Song Language of the Various
Feathered Tribes-Even Spar
rows Can Acquire the Art of
MeIody-Some Bird Parents
Ways Of Nesting-The Grouse
Dance Executed to a Nicely.

- UPPOSE spring had come with
u the happy song of a single
- bird to herald it! Suppose the
voices of all the feathered crea-
lures of the air were stilled!
People, as a rule, indulge in no such
suppositions, accepting of natures gen.
erous bounty quite as a matter of
course. And yet IL u song birds
should suddenly become extinct a
strange void wouldlbe felt in the gen.
eral scheme Of things. 1t is the glori-
Gus month of May. The meadow lark
has reappeared bearing his message.
Spring o. the year, spring o the year"
Gorgeous robin redbreast has come
back and In his wake myriads of other
winged messengers of good cheer. 1t
is spring, and the world is glad.
The study of birds is known as or
anthology. Ornithologists discovered
long ago that many birds are ready
learners and expressed the opinion
that the feathered tribes could be train
ed In song and speech. Remarkable
results have been accomplished. Star
lings are well known as birds sus-
ceptible not only of learning to whistle
simple melodies. but as rivals of par
rots in reproducing with great distinc-
ton short sentences. Canary birds
have frequently been recorded as learn
Ing to whistle simple tunes, and there
are a number of we'll attested accounts
of their reproducing with precision
short sentences. Jays. crows and mag
pies also can be taught.
BIRDS AS IMITAToRs
Few people know that only wild
birds, hand reared from a very early
& are educated by man in song and
speech. The catbird has been taught
to mimic the chirps and trills of its
companions, bluejays have been taught
to reproduce the song of the cardinal
SO well that the listener is deceived,
and European jays have learned from
cockatoos to say, 'how do you do.
pretty Polly?" and a number Of whis-
ties and calls. Marked success has
attended experiments with the imita-
ton theory. A few observers have
heard wild birds initiate the barking
Of dogs and mechanically produced
sounds, such as the creaking of a
wheel. the filing of a saw and the like.
The w~hippoorwill. cuckoo, bobwhite,
jay, chuck. willis widow, killdeer and
dicklind do not merely tell us their
names, but some Of their songs may
be s~yllabifed to the satisfa ction of the
human ear, although opinion will vary
as to what they say. Some say the
guinea fowl cries "come back" others
insist on 'pot-a-rack," and still others
hear only "buckwheat' as its call.
Besides his own name, the bluejay cries
"phe-phay," wake up" "come out" In
most energetic fashion. The native
notes Of the brown thrasher resemble
those Of the hooking bird. only they
are wen more sweet. rapid and varied,
but the mocker can cry like a hurt
chicken and can make such close imi-
tations of other birds as to deceive not
only man. but the birds also.
Robins chirp ''cheer up, cheer up,"
the woodpecker stops his hammer to
cry wish, WISH" while the flicker a v
"quich, quich" and "wee chew-wee
chez" Ike the swishing OF willow
wands or boughs. The quail seems to
say, pay thy debts. pay thy debts"
eet N Germany 1t i thought to cry,