104 The Field Naturalist 's Quarterly May 



best illustrated by the elaborate cooing of the domestic 

 pigeon as he bows and sweeps the ground all round the 

 object of his affections. Song-birds, on the other hand, use 

 very simple little notes in courtship. The call to the mate 

 (n) is also best exemplified by] the pigeon, who, when 

 uxoriously inclined, enters the nest-box and there utters 

 booming sounds which can be heard by his wife at a great 

 distance. The note of love (12) you may hear uttered by 

 the half-hour together by a pair of starlings which have 

 retired into their nesting-hole. The twittering house-martins 

 offer conspicuous examples too, as do house-sparrows. Is 

 this note peculiar to birds which build nests in inaccessible 

 places ? The last of the notes which birds address to their 

 mates is that of warning (13). Perhaps the best example of 

 this would be the monotonous " cheee " of the greenfinch, if 

 one could only be sure that it is intended as a warning to 

 the sitting mate, and not a futile note of menace to the 

 intruder. There is no doubt, however, about the warning 

 notes of the wagtail, who signals your movements to his 

 listening wife. 



The following five notes may be classified as the expres- 

 sions of personal emotions. The note of domestic anxiety 

 (14) is well illustrated in the plaintive "tee-wee" of the 

 greenfinch, because this same bird uses a different note — the 

 long-drawn "cheee" already referred to — in warning his 

 wife of danger. The note of menace (15) is commonly used 

 by tits, owls, and other birds which build in holes — for 

 the same reason doubtless that young owls hiss and clack 

 their bills. The note of fear (16), on the other hand, is 

 most characteristic of ground-birds, like the partridge, and 

 water-birds, like the duck. These, when suddenly attacked, 

 often escape by making a prodigious clatter. The blackbird 

 offers a curious problem in this respect, because he is very 

 noisy when frightened ever so little. He is conspicuous 

 also for the noise which he makes when he is going to bed, 

 and when vermin is on the prowl. The explanation seems 

 to be that the blackbird was until very recently — as evolu- 

 tionists calculate time — a gregarious bird like the fieldfare, 

 whom he closely resembles in many particulars of conduct ; 

 but that, having definitely adopted cultivated regions as 



