Bird voices: words that sound like birds

A favourite pastime was inventing words and phrases that resemble the cries of birds and insects. Clever ones became well known and were believed to be the birds’ own words. Driberg wrote down several, with their meaning:

• The red pigeon is said to sing that it is grieving over the death of its father, with a “kung, kung, kung, kung”.
• The green pigeon is a pair talking: the female says, “My child is ill,” and the male answers, “Well, what am I to do?”
• A guinea-fowl caught in a snare cries, “They set a snare, they set a snare.” The others, who escaped, sing to it from the trees: “You went carelessly, you went carelessly.”
• The small chatty apenyjulu calls to its companions that the fruit is ripe and they should wait down below.

Elders may know many more, and the words as they are said today. You can add them through the contribution form.

Source: J. H. Driberg, The Lango: A Nilotic Tribe of Uganda (London, 1923), pp. 133–134; public domain. It describes life about a hundred years ago as a colonial administrator saw it, so customs have changed and some may be told differently today. Elders and families are invited to correct it and add what they know.