es have slight variations of expression which fit particular
situations. Thus the crow of these birds, which may seem to the
unobservant a very unvaried sound, discloses to those who have lovingly
studied them at least half a dozen distinct modifications. In the
fledgling male who just begins to feel the spirit of his kind, and who
goes through his performance in the adolescent way, it is a cheap and
often pitiful call. From the open roost in the trees, where the birds
are gradually aroused by the slow-coming day, we can often hear the note
of the half-awakened cock, as full of the sense of slumber as the speech
of a sleeping man. As the creature gradually awakens, his cry becomes
more resonant until it has the true morning ring. Brave as is this note
of the full day, it is not to be compared with the crowing of a
game-cock, the most splendid braggart sound of all the animal world.

The really sympathetic notes of our fowls are uttered in their ordinary
intercourse. Here the gradations of sounds have a range and fineness
which, it seems to me, we can observe in no other creature below the
level of man. Attention, astonishment, fear, commonplace distress,
exultation, and agony are all set forth with cries which we, in a way,
recognize as appropriate. Although some of these sounds relate to the
larger experiences of the creatures, the most instructive of them are
uttered in their ordinary intercourse, where they clearly maintain a
kind of consensus in the flock by unending small bits of emotional
speech, the notes being shaded in a wonderful way. These fine
variations of utterance can sometimes be observed to be related to
slight differences of situation. Thus the cackle of a hen when she
leaves her nest after laying an egg is quite different from that which
is made by the same hen when, during the period of incubation, she
quits her eggs in search of food and water.

It is not unlikely that the eminent domesticability of our common fowls
is in a way associated with the singular variety of their notes. This
variety indicates that the creatures are in constant and effective
communication with one another; in a word, they are very sympathetic.
With this intellectual helpfulness naturally goes the love of the
domicile and a disposition to submit to control.

So nice and well understood are the differences between the sounds
which these birds give forth, and so well are their notes appreciated
by their companions, that the