THE SIMPLEST SONGS 55 



singing, and generally omits this cry from his song, 

 which then is rarely concluded with it. 



I have heard a tree-pipit repeat in his phrases 

 the squeak which is his call-note when he is migrat- 

 ing. Sometimes the chaffinch, when he begins to 

 sing, in March or earlier, repeats the call -note he 

 uttered when a nestling, and not that one he em- 

 ployed in autumn. He will repeat this note many 

 times together, and thus produce the first part of 

 his song. 



The coarse call -note of the brown wren may 

 be distinguished (though it is always uttered 

 obscurely) in about one-half of the phrases sung 

 in spring ; it is sometimes uttered twice in one 

 phrase. The goldfinch, house - sparrow — for un- 

 doubtedly the latter occasionally tries to sing — and 

 the linnet appear to construct their songs wholly 

 of call-notes and danger-cries. The blue tit, great 

 tit, coal tit, and jackdaw have but little more origin- 

 ality. In the songs of these birds, and in those of 

 the nightingale, swallow, grasshopper-warbler, stone- 

 chat, cirl, yellow, and common buntings, wood -wren, 

 redstart, hedge -accentor, and others, are strong 

 indications of the construction of phrases, wholly or 

 partly, by the repetition of single cries. 



Under the influence of habit, or of physical 



