Glimpses of Indian Birds

icate all their thoughts to one another, because the language they possess consists of a few monosyllables, b

the language of his Simian brothers, found that the average monkey was able to emit only about seve

three distinct sounds he heard rooks utter, and states that this is but a small page out of their vocabulary. Neverthe

ion naturally arises, does it go sufficiently far to meet the needs of the various species, or have they some means of communicating with one another other than by sounds? It is very tempting to believe that they h

iscuss the matter, that the hen says to the cock, "Now, James, my dear, it is necessary for us to build a nest without delay: come, let us select a secluded spot wherein to build"; and to picture the little birds hunting about together and criticising the sites each selects. Nevertheless, I think it most

its spouse collecting material. When this happens the second bird begins collecting, and is content to work at the structure already commenced by its mate. Assuming the correctness of the suggestion that the nest-building instinct does not, as a rule, become awakened simultaneously in a pair of birds, what will happen in the exceptional cases when the instinct does awaken simultaneously? When this happens, it is my belief that each sex commences to build a separat

to bulbuls which have been left after about three hours' work was put into them. Several explanations of this phenomenon are possible. Each bird may have commenced a separate nest, and so one was deserted; or the site in question may have

ding operations of a pair of wagtails. The account is brief and has so important a

ings of his mate, and they both continued to gather materials into their selected places. Suddenly he flew to her position and commenced removing her material to the place where he thought the nest ought to be. Trouble seemed to be brewing in the family, especially when she still persisted in carrying dead grass to her site. In the end the cock bird lost his t

to the female, and the nearly completed nest was on her chosen site. A close examination of the two places showed that the judgment of the male had been at fault.

of what the hen was doing; he would surely have set his foot down at once. The fact that at first he took no notice seems to show that at the outburst of what I may perhaps call the fury of nest-building the cock had eyes for noth

e cock without assuming any communication between him and his mate. Let us suppose that while she was sulking, and he was working, a mouse appeared on the scene. This would alarm him, and possibly the instinct of flying from enemies, that the appearance of th

ic experiment. The casual observer is as likely to throw light upon it as the man who makes a special study of it. A chance incident, such as that observed by Mr. Taylor, throws a flood of light upon the subjec