Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1894 — HENS INVETERATE GOSSLPERS. [ARTICLE]

HENS INVETERATE GOSSLPERS.

Prof. Htmerlck Telli About the Conversational Abilities of Chickens. Baltimore Special. Prof. Hamerick, the composer and director of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, has been making interesting studies upon the conversational abilities of chickens,’ whieh, it is thought, may prove supplementary to Professor Garner’s re-* searches in the monkey language.’ Professor Hamerick has been engaged in this study for twelve years and has become proficient in his immitations. " “Hens,” he said, “are the greatest gossipers in the world. When they get together they do nothing but chatter continually. It is the same with pullets. I have watched several of them for hours and they would gossip ceaselessly. I know they have a language, for when one is alone it trill not talk at all. It may perhaps sing a little song to pass the time away. As soon, however, as it meets another the conversation will begin. Their voices are sometimes sweet and then again harsh and discordant, as is the casq with human beings. With me it makes a great difference whether a fowl’s voice is pleasant or disagreeable, though most people do not seem to note the distinction.

“I have discovered that they have very acute senses of vision, hearing and taste, but they cannot smell. Their sense of taste is excellently developed, and after eating any thing more than usually palatable they will give vent to an exclamation of pleasure just as a person will. They are peculiarly susceptible to certain colors. Red almost drives them crazy, while blue is not to their liking by any means. I once had five Cochin-China pullets, to which I gave the names of P. T., with the change of a vowel for each one, such as Pete, Pite, Pat, Pit, Pot. Pete would respond readily when her name was called, but the others would come also with the exception of Pot, who would come when I called her. Pete would come when I called Pite, Pat and Pet, showing that she could not distinguish closely between the vowels i, a and e short. There was such a difference between these and Pot that the latter would recognize her name as soon as called. If the consonats were transposed and I would call Top instead of Pot she would not notice. “Crowing among roosters is a most interesting study. dP havenoted the crows of over one hundred roosters and I have never found two alike. The crow is nearly always between 12 a. m. and 12 m,. and is from three to seven seconds induration. Roosters begin to crow at dawn, and those further eastward crow the last. It is a kind of telegraphic service from pne to another. Generally there are seven crows in the space of one hundred seconds from each other. Cocks crow a few minutes after being frightened and after eating, and I can almost exactly tell when they will begin. A rooster is, by all odds the proudest thing on earth, with no exception."