THE FULL CHORUS 97 



music of the brown linnet. It is gay, but lacking in sweet- 

 ness. Both songs are unmistakably of the flowing type ; 

 they run on indefinitely, whereas we know exactly when and 

 how the chaffinch's will end. Out in the open fields the 

 skylark's reeling and unbroken song makes an even more 

 striking contrast with the notes of the tree or meadow pipit, 

 which it closely resembles in plumage. A skylark's full song 

 usually lasts between two and three minutes ; but there is 

 nothing in its structure to show when it is coming to an end. 

 In this it is like the bagpipes ; both lark and piper know the 

 right time to stop, but it is not apparent to the hearer. 



As the freest and most flowing songs are the furthest 

 removed from such elementary repetitions as the notes of the 

 corncrake or chiffchaff, it might seem logical to regard them 

 as the most perfect kind of bird music. But this would by 

 no means be true. Many of the finest singers, such as the 

 nightingale and song-thrush, largely make up their song of 

 set phrases much like those of the chaffinch or pipits, but 

 they have a far more varied repertory, and they mingle them 

 with flowing passages. A song-thrush in full music will 

 repeat some phrase of two or three notes five or six 

 times, and a nightingale as many as twelve or fifteen. Most 

 birds of either species have many phrases in common. The 

 ' J u &> J u &> j u g ' °f tne nightingale and ' Is it ? Is it ? ' of the 

 song-thrush are characteristic of almost every singer; and 

 they have many other phrases hardly less characteristic. 

 Where one thrush or nightingale varies from another is in 

 the number of the phrases at its command, and in its own indi- 

 vidual variations. With these will also go a greater fulness 

 and richness of execution. One spring, a thrush that sang 

 in a Berkshire churchyard had a clear, hard whistle like the 

 cry of a marmot ; it sang on for the season, but was not heard 



again. A rare, though well-known accomplishment of some 

 CMOS 13 



