To be out in their haunts late in the day and very early in the dawn
is to learn things about birds one never forgets. And if one chance
to remain late at night, one may often hear some feathered person
mumble, or talk, or scold, or complain, or sing a short melody, in
his sleep. Some students of bird-lore suggest that all-night singers,
like the mockers, and some thrushes, do "talk in their sleep,"
instead of from intent and choice. If one will watch a tame canary in
its cage one may hear a very low, sweet warble from the bird while
its head is tucked under its feathers. This act wakens the little
creature, and it may be seen to finish its note while it looks about
in the lamp-light in a half-bewildered way.
Take our domestic fowls! Go noiselessly out to the chicken roost and
stand stock-still for a while. Now and then some hen or cock will
speak a few words in its own language, in a rambling, dozing way.
Then the suggestion passes on, and perhaps half a dozen individuals
engage in nocturnal conversation. One, more "nervous" from
yesterday's overwork perhaps, actually has a nightmare, and cackles
in fright. All this has no connection with the usual time for the
head of the family to give his warning crow that midnight or daytime
is close at hand and there is scarcely time for another wink of sleep.
Once in the secret of bird notes, even a blind person may locate the
immediate vicinity of a nest. And he may identify species by the
call-notes and songs. We have a blind girl neighbor who declares she
would rather have her hearing than her sight, she has learned so well
to hear what her sight might deprive her of.
When once the ear has learned its better lessons, glimpses, so to
speak, of bird life flutter to it as naturally as leaves flutter
to the sward in autumn. It is the continual chatter, chatter, that
deprives many of us of the best enjoyments of life. We talk when
we should listen. Nature speaks low more often than she shouts. A
taciturn child or person finds out things that are worth the habit of
keeping still to know.
These remarks are in the interest of singing birds. A bird is
sometimes interrupted, and comes to a sudden stop. A footstep, a
word, a laugh, and the very next note is swallowed by the singer.
By studying our songsters one may come to know for one's self how
individuals differ even among the same species.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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