Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 January 1892 — Variety of Voices. [ARTICLE]

Variety of Voices.

It does not seem possible that we shall evor be able to comprehend, the language of animals, but it is interesting to note the variety of their voices. In the mammalia, the general construction of the larynx is like that of a man, the power and character of the sound depending on the different degrees of development of the vocal chords and the peculiarity of structure of the vocal organs. The timbre, or quality, of the voice is remarkably distinct in the different classes of animals, and also varies in those of the same class. Lions and tigers, with their magnitude of chest, make a roar that (ills the ear with a sense of horror, the depth of voice giving to the mind the idea of an enormous being. The horse neighs in a descent ou the chromatic scale, without even omitting a semi-tone, being one of the most .musically voiced of animals. The ass brays in a perfect octave, and one of its ejaculations hes been copied by Haydn, in his Seventy-sixth Quartette, with great success. The bark of a dog is an instance of a voice acquired by domestication, much as the trotting of a horse is an acquired movement. An ape produces an exact octave of musical sounds, ascending and descending the scale by half tones, so that, perhaps, it alone of the brute animals may be said to sing. The howling, or preaching, monkey of South America has a voice that can be heard for two miles. The giraffe and the armadillo are voiceless—with no vocal chords. The chirp of the long-eared bat is said to be the most acute sound produced by any animal, and only live out of six persons can hear it. In reptiles, the larynx is in a rudimentary condition. The crocodile and cayman make a feeble, roaring sound. One kind of a frog has a sound-bag, evidently acting as a resonance chamber, on each side of its mouth. The tortoise gives a mere snuffling sound. Snakes have no vocal chords, but produce a hissing by expulsion of air through the narrow openings in the glottis. Most fish are mtite. Insects, such as crickets, grasshoppers and bees, have been considered more musicians than singers, most of their sounds being caused by friction of their wings or legs together, or against their body, or by vibration of their wings. A grasshopper of Brazil may be heard half a mile, which is as if a man with a big voice could be heard over the world.— Great Divide.