244 -^^^ Irish Naturalist. [October, 



BIRD SONGS. 



A Dictionary of Bird Notes. By Chari^es Louis Hett. Brigg : 

 Jacksoiis, Market Place, 1898. 



A (iictionarv of the notes of birds is- a new departure ip oruitholog}',. 

 and may at least be pronounced a highly interesting experiment. Its 

 aim, we are told in a short preface, is to facilitate the identification of 

 birds by their so^ngs and calls ; and if bird-notes could be syllabled with 

 sufficient accuracy 10 insure their recognition when heard, the idea of 

 presenting them in dictionary form would be an excellent one in every 

 sense. Unluckily our ornithological literature abounds in illustrations- 

 o-f the virtual impossibility of fulfilling this condition. Mr. Howard 

 Saunders describes as a shrill " ki-ou " a note which the late Mr. 

 Seebohm syllabled as " ahp " ; and when such authorities differ thus 

 widely, we need not expect agreement to be the prevalent rule. The 

 syllabling even of the Cuckoo's cry is, as Mr. Hett admits, partly 

 fanciful. The Redwing's alarm, rendered as "^quip" in the book before 

 us, might also be written "wok." And who could guess under what 

 letter to begin his search for the hurried trill of the Corn Bunting, or 

 the purling call-note of the Lark .? A year ago a correspondent in the 

 Field asked what bird had a note like a pig's grunt. He received three 

 answers, and his bird was identified as (i) the Stock Dove, (2) the 

 Lesser Pied Woodpecker, and (3) the Long-eared Owl. In Mr. Hett's- 

 dictionary no grunting note is ascribed to any of these three species,, 

 but we are referred, under " grunt," to three other birds, namely, the 

 Common and Black Guillemots, and the Razorbill. We have heard the 

 opinion expressed by an Irish ornithologist, that the bird which really 

 had puzzled the inquirer on the above occasion was a Mistle-Thrush. 

 So much for the safety of phonetic guidance. And turning over the 

 pages of the Dictionary of Bird Notes, one cannot well avoid the 

 conclusion that many of its syllablings might w4th equal accuracy have 

 been referred to quite different species from those indicated. "Chirr,"" 

 for instance, Mr. Hett ascribes to the Bearded Titmouse, not, as some 

 ornithologists would, to the Grasshopper-Warbler. '■ Chough chough " 

 is his not unnatural rendering of the cry of Pyrrhocorax gractilus^ but the 

 Jackdaw's well-known note can be similarly syllabled. "Phillip" we 

 find referred to one species only — the House Sparrow ; but the Lapwing 

 owes its common Irish name, " Phillipeen," to its note in the nesting 

 season being thus translated by our countrymen. " See " might 

 certainly be ascribed to other birds besides the " Grey Wagtail, at nest." 

 The Blackbird, for instance, in early summer, utters such a note, for 

 which we cannot discover that Mr. Hett has given us any reading. 

 If the Sedge-Warbler says "tut-tut," so, to some ears, does the female 

 Cuckoo ; and the Tawny Owl is far from the only bird whose note has 

 been heard as "tu-whit tu-whoo." Irish naturalists have not forgotten 

 a report of the last-named species having been heard at Howtli, on the 

 strength of a "tu-whit tu-whoo," which further investigation traced to 



