VARIA TION IN BIRD- VOICES 1 5 1 



heard in Gloucestershire, which is rendered on 

 p. 52, ante; but often the third, fourth, and fifth 

 notes are considerably — sometimes a minor third 

 — higher than the first. He gives the song of the 

 yellow bunting as — 



But in Gloucestershire the first notes ascend succes- 

 sively, so that the phrase follows nearly this course : 



The complete phrase, however, is not usually heard 

 until spring is advanced. Gilbert White noticed 

 that some redstarts " have a few more notes than 

 others" {pp. cit. p. 5 5)- I also have observed this, 

 and that the phrase is lengthened during May, 

 being more extended at the end of the month 

 than at the beginning. The great tit, coal tit, and 

 marsh tit often vary their songs by the utterance 

 of some unusual note, which is, for some minutes, 

 frequently pronounced. Bechstein noticed that the 

 goldfinch varies in its frequency of uttering the cry 

 fink in song {Cage Birds, p. 148). In the fourth 

 edition of Yarrell it is recorded that among linnets 



