1 54 E VOL UTION OF BIRD- SONG 



Amberley, Glos., a male house -sparrow which had 

 adopted a set order in the utterance of his call- 

 notes. For an hour together he would cry at short 

 intervals Tell, tell, chirri ; tell, tell, chirri ; tell, tell, 

 chirri, and so on. In May 1892 I heard at 

 Corbett House, Stroud, a male house-sparrow crying 

 very frequently chirrirri (or perhaps chississick), 

 instead of the common call chirri or chissick ; and 

 he was addressing a female bird, as is usual when 

 the cry here alluded to is employed. In 1890 

 Mr. S. S. Buckman informed me that during 

 the two preceding spring seasons there had been 

 near his residence at Oxlynch, Stonehouse, Glos., 

 a cuckoo which could sing only cuck, instead of the 

 usual cry of the species. Conversely, in The Field 

 of 2nd July 1892, it is related that in 1891 a 

 cuckoo, near the house of a correspondent, sang 

 every day three notes instead of two ; and the three 

 were " perfectly distinct and of equal value." The 

 three notes of this cuckoo and the triple-syllabled 

 cry of the house-sparrow just mentioned may pos- 

 sibly indicate a tendency towards the construction 

 of a phrase by the cuckoo and sparrow. The 

 cuckoo begins to sing with the interval of a minor 

 third, then proceeds to a major third, next to a 

 fourth, then a fifth, after which his voice breaks 



