134 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



After listening for about fifteen minutes till he flew 

 off, I went on my way rejoicing at a new experience 

 and marvelling that this simple little bird melody, which 

 one would imagine any child could imitate or describe 

 to you so that when heard afterwards it could easily 

 be identified, had yet never been described in the ornith- 

 ological books. Such a statement may seem incredible 

 considering the number of books on birds which we 

 possess; but let any reader take down one from his 

 shelves and try to form a definite idea as to what this 

 song is like from the author's account. Some naturalists 

 compare it with the blackbird and missel-thrush. It is 

 unlike both, being a short set song, as in the chaffinch 

 and chiffchaff, without any variation and alike in every 

 individual ; whereas the blackbird and missel-thrush vary 

 their phrases with every repetiton of the song, and no 

 two individuals sing quite alike. In the quality of the 

 sound there is also some difference. Again, it is 

 frequently described as a warble, or warbled song, which 

 it is not. The word warble, as Mr. Warde Fowler has 

 said, is used of bird's singing in a sense which may be 

 guessed from Milton's lines: 



Fountains, and ye that warble as ye flow 

 Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise. 



"The word," he adds, "seems to express a kind of sing- 

 ing which is soft, continuous, and legato." It is precisely 

 because they sing in this way that several of our smaller 

 songsters, including the blackcap and willow-wren, have 

 received the English generic name of Warblers. 



