SONG OF THE CHAFFINCH 127 



chaffinch is said to express the prophecy : In another 

 month will come a wheatear. Dr. Butler informed me 

 that in Kent the ^'wheatear'' was absent from the 

 song ; and this I find to be very generally the 

 case. In Gloucestershire the note is harder in tone. 

 In Kent it sounds like " tissi-ear." 



The short, full, contented -sounding note jink^ 

 which the yellow-hammer often utters from an 

 elevated perch, may also be an abbreviation of 

 this sound. The sounds made by the rattling 

 of the bill during combat are much the same in 

 the canary and in the house-sparrow. But to return 

 to the greenfinch. 



The greenfinch has one note which is frequently 

 employed by the house -sparrow. This is a cry 

 sounding like the word yell, often repeated. It 

 may be whistled thus : 



^ S S 



i 



the small notes being hardly sounded at all. It is 

 repeated as a call-note by young greenfinches, at 

 least for some time after they can fly well ; it is 

 employed with vehemence by the female greenfinch 

 while her mate is feeding her near the nest ; and 

 she then behaves in the manner of a young 



