a mingling of the "r." Smaller animals,
such as the squirrel, the rat, and the
mouse, employ the vowel "e," with two
indistinct consonants, which the English
language imitates in the words "week"
.and "squeak." The alphabet of quadrupeds
is thus very limited, being confined
to the labial consonants, "b," "f," "m,"
and "w," and the dental consonant "n,"
peculiar to the horse. The vowels at their
command are "a," "aa," or "aw," "o,"
"oh," "oo," or "u," "ee," and the
gutturals "ough" or "ugh." No sound of
"i" appears, unless it be in the indistinct
whinnyings of the horse and ass.

The alphabet of the birds is greatly more
copious, both in consonants and vowels.
In fact, there is no vowel sound—whether
single, double, or treble, utterable by the
human tongue, that is not utterable, and
uttered by some member of the feathered
tribes. Although the consonants of the
birds do not include the two great
consonants of the quadrupeds, the "b" and
the "m," for the all-sufficient reason that
these letters are labials, and birds have no
lips, they comprise many others which
quadrupeds do not possess; namely, the
"c," "g," or "k;" the "d," the "p," the
"t," and the "z." Neither quadrupeds
nor birds (with the sole exception of the
parrot and such birds as may be taught
to imitate more or less perfectly the human
voice) possess the consonantal sounds of
"l," "s," "v," and "x;" unless the
skylark possesses "l" in its song that
resembles, as the French express it, the
syllables tire-lire, or, as we should represent
it in English, teera-leera. Taking these
consonants with their accompanying vowels
in the order which they assume in the
English alphabet, we come first to "c" hard,
the same as "k," and almost the same as
"g." The rooks and crows pronounce
very distinctly "caw, caw;" the cuckoo
pronounces "coo! coo!" whence its name;
the dove, says "croo," or "curroo," whence
the verb croodle, to utter sounds of
endearment or interjections like a bird or a
child, and the Scottish phrase, a "croodlin
doo," applied to a tender or affectionate
infant. The consonant "d" seems to find
its only representation in the "cock-a-
doodle-doo" of our old friend the male of
the barn-door fowl, though it may be
doubted whether this gallant and beautiful
bird pronounces the "d," and whether his
note of joy or defiance may not be
accurately rendered without any consonants.
As regards the Australian bird, which is
supposed to cry "more pork," as plainly
as the cuckoo cries "coo-coo," it is quite
impossible that the beak of a bird can emit
the labial letter "m." The words "more
pork!" which give name to the bird in
question, is doubtless an effort of the
imagination on the part of the listeners, having
no other foundation on which to rest than
"ohr-ork," or perhaps "ohr-awk." The
next consonant used by the birds is "p,"
which breaks out constantly in the song of
the smaller birds of the finch species, and
many others, more especially the curlew,
with its monotonous cry of "pee-wheep!"
Next in order is "t," with the chaffinch in
the front of those who employ it, calling
out continually "tu-eet," or "tweet;" and
the owl, with its "to-wheet, to-whoo!" The
American bird which is represented as crying
"whip poor will," may be cited for the
use of the " w;" though its real note,
unassisted by the imagination or the tradition of
the listeners is more like "ippoo! ee!" than
the strange request that is put into its
beak by the fancy of mankind. The
nightingale alone, among the feathered race,
possesses the power of enunciating the
hard sound of " z," and will frequently
repeat "zu! zu! zu!" dozens of times, before
it changes the notes of its song into any of
the other consonants and vowels, of which
it has a greater store at its command
than any but the parrot and the imitative
birds.

With the exception of the combined
consonants "cr," as used by the raven, the
dove, and the frog, neither quadrupeds, nor
birds, nor such reptiles as may be included
in the frog species, are able to enunciate
sounds that require two initial consonants
such as "br," "fl," "gl," "st," and others
that are common in human speech. Their
vowels and consonants are alike simple and
easy of pronunciation. The gutturals,
however, employed by birds and beasts are
very numerous, and swine, frogs, turkeys,
eagles, and all the falconidæ, are more
distinguished for the use of such sounds than
for softer and more euphonious utterances.
The gobble of the turkey cock is almost
as difficult to represent by written symbols
as the neighing of the horse.

It will be noticed as regards quadrupeds,
that the sounds (we might be justified in
calling them words) which they severally
express, are all in the nature of interjections.
And it is possible, that in the
rudest ages of man upon the earth,
interjections were, as much for the man as the
brute, the only language in use. The