So.VGS .4 .YD Call Notes. \g7 



woutls ; but ultliou^^h I love its soni;-, my estimate 

 of it is not such that I would mention it as a rival 

 of the Xightingale, a proud place allotted to it by 

 many students of Nature. 



The dividin<'- line between son<>-s and call notes 

 is an exceedingly ditticult, if not impossible, one to 

 draw, for those which are uttered by many species, 

 such as Cuckoos, Owls, and Pigeons, are practically 

 the only means of communication between one 

 bird and another. 



Ijirds not only have a very definite and well- 

 understood language for the benefit and convenience 

 of each species, but some of them have the power of 

 connnunicating the presence of a common danger 

 to every feathered neighbour living within hearing 

 of their voices. Blackbirds, Chattinches, Common 

 Wrens, and Swallows all possess this power in a 

 marked degree, as 1 have proved by placing a stuffed 

 ()\vl close to their nests containing young ones. 



The hrst-iiamed birds ringing >S'/>n J.", splnk, spink ! 

 is capable of all sorts of subtle variations, each with 

 a separate meaning. He says " good-night " and 

 •' good-morning " with it, and his neighbours pay 

 very little attention. If he be disturbed during 

 the night, he flies out of the bush wherein he was 

 sleeping without a sound and utters a fairly fast 

 but not very loud Spinl; spink, spin I' ! when he 

 blunders into another w^hitethorn some distance 

 away, as much as to say, " Look out, neighbours, 

 there's something strange astir to-night." But if a 



