xYOTES OF THE FINCHES 125 



our own reed-bunting utters in its song a cry exactly 

 like the fink of the chaffinch. The common yellow 

 bunting utters as an alarm-note a double cry closely 

 like that of the greenfinch. 



Notes of the Finches 



The common call-note of the greenfinch, which 

 may be rendered didit, or tititit^ etc., is very similar 

 to those of the goldfinch, siskin, and lesser red- 

 poll, which utter the cry with degrees of repetition 

 variable in the different species. Even the domestic 

 canary, a true finch, notwithstanding the effects not 

 only of artificial selection, but even of the artificial 

 education of its voice, still utters as a call-note a 

 twitter (the tone of which is suggested by the words 

 pretty dick) of very much the same character as 

 those of the greenfinch, goldfinch, siskin, and part 

 of the call of the brown linnet. This appears to be 

 absent from the voices of the house -sparrow and 

 chaffinch. When the greenfinch, of either sex, is 

 alarmed by a strange beast, or any bird of prey, in 

 the neighbourhood of its nest, it utters a very 

 distinct cry, an upwardly slurred whistle, of the 

 same character as the tewy of the willow-warbler, 

 nightingale, and redstart. This cry, in exactly the 

 same tone, is commonly employed by the lesser red- 



