EVOLUTION OF BIRD- SONG 



and the call-note of its own young. Sterland wrote 

 that the whinchat utters as a call-note chat chat chat 

 {Birds of Sherwood Forest^ p. 69). This cry, which 

 I know well, is very like the tack of the blackcap, 

 and is equally an alarm. The same author {pp. cit. 

 p. 71) gives the call - note of the wheatear as a 

 chat : a call or an alarm of the stonechat, as I have 

 often observed, is very similar to that of the 

 wheatear. 



In the call-notes of birds of the thrush family 

 are many instances of family resemblance. One of 

 the most familiar of these notes is the long-drawn 

 plaintive cry uttered by the migrating redwing. 

 This note, which Sterland seems to have observed, 

 is most noticeable at night in October and November, 

 and may be imitated by whispering as loudly as 

 possible see yon as one word, through which the 

 sound of the " s " is continued. The blackbird, in 

 winter and when migrating, occasionally utters a 

 cry which can only be distinguished by the closest 

 attention from the cry of the redwing. I cannot 

 think that this cry (which is a single note never 

 repeated in quick succession) is, as Mr. Harting 

 suggests, like the call-note of the fieldfare, which is 

 rarely uttered except as a succession of short cries 

 {Birds of Middlesex, p. 33)- I" the common song- 



