i 7 4 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



furze-wren it is not so; the excessive rapidity with 

 which the notes are emitted and repeated makes the 

 performance more like a close-woven cord than a 

 chain, and, to continue the metaphor, we may see 

 it as a black or grey cord, set and sparkling with loose 

 thread-ends of silver, gold and scarlet. The black 

 or sombre cord represents the low chiding or buzzing 

 sound, the brilliant threads the bright, shrill and 

 delicate sounds. 



The furze-wren is one of our minor songsters, rank- 

 ing with the stonechat, dunnock, redstart, and lesser 

 whitethroat. Its chief interest is its originality — its 

 unlikeness to that of any other singer. This makes 

 it difficult to describe, since we cannot convey an 

 impression of a bird sound or song except by likening 

 it to other well-known sounds or songs. Our orni- 

 thologists, who have written about the bird for the 

 last century and a half, have not attempted to des- 

 cribe its song. I remember that I once asked the late 

 Howard Saunders why this was so, and his reply was 

 that the furze-wren has such a curious little jiggy 

 song that you couldn't describe it. Of course one can 

 describe the song of any unhuman being, from a shrill 

 insect to an angel, but the sad truth of the matter is 

 that the impression cannot be properly conveyed by 

 words to another. Nevertheless the description may 

 be a help to the bird-seeker. It does not give him a 

 perfect image of the song — only the bird itself can 

 do that — but it helps him to identify the singer when 

 he first hears it. 



