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“ Birdlover ”



and under the heading of song we include the call notes. Bird music

may be roughly divided into four kinds or classes, (l) the call note;

(2) the alarm note ; (3) the signal call and (4) the love call-song

proper. But as a bird’s voice is capable of an infinite variety of

expression, any classification of the calls must not be regarded as

definite or conclusive. The more one listens to birds, the more one

understands their language. The call note is most often used ; it is

a short note, or collection of notes, and varies very much in tone and

expression as occasion requires; a chaffinch’s “ pink, pink, pink,” as

it contentedly feeds on fallen beech masts, differs considerably from

the gay “ pink, er pink pink ” of a party of these birds, as they make

their way through the orchard, calling to each other as they fly along.

Among gregarious birds the call note is a call in the literal sense of

the word, and serves to keep the flock together. The cheery notes

of a roving band of tits, or the call of a flock of finches, as they rise

from a stubble field, are familiar to every dweller of the country side.

The use of the call note among non-gregarious species may be

illustrated by the soft call of a mother bird to its young, or the

“ chuck chuck ” of a blackbird calling “ goodnight ” to its companions

as it goes to roost. The alarm note is the danger call, or the cry of

distress. In some species, for instance the chaffinch, the alarm note

resembles the call note ; in others, as in the case of the blackbird,

it is quite distinct. In all probability the alarm cry of individual

birds is probably meant primarily to warn other individuals of the

same species of the approach of danger, but it may also serve to warn

other species, witness, e.g. the immediate disturbance and dismay of

all in the neighbourhood, when a frightened jay, or blackbird gives

vent to its feelings. It often occurs when a motley crowd of birds is

feeding in a field, one of them suddenly gives the alarm, and immediate¬

ly with common consent, all rise in flight. But this stampede does

not always take place ; the alarm note may send only a few of the

birds off in a great hurry, leaving the rest of the company quite

undisturbed.


The signal call might be called the migration call with equal

truth, for as far as we know, it is only used by birds while on migra¬

tion. The subject of these signal calls is still somewhat obscure.

It is known that migrating waders make use of strange call notes



