So.vGs AND Call Notes. 



177 



they sing better in one part of the country tlian 

 another. I^irdeatchers say that an Essex Chatiinch 

 can beat one froni any other part of the British Isles, 

 and close observers with good musical ears have 

 noticed that this bird's notes are stronger and longer 

 in some districts than in others. 



Singing competitions are still held amongst 



Chatiinch fanciers in the East End ol London, and it 

 is difficult to understand how the poor little prisoners 

 have the heart to utter a note in their cramped 

 cages, enfolded within thick handkerchiefs that make 

 the air dark and stilling. German l)irdcatchers 

 used to think that the blacker the darkness in 

 which a singing Chaffinch was kept the better it 

 sang, and were, sad to relate, guilty of the unspeak- 

 able cruelty of destroying the eyesight ot their 

 unfortunate little prisoners with red-hot wire. 



