396 



Transactions. 



immediately before my face, and each time I called it stretched towards 

 me with extended fluttermg wings, uttering the long vibrato with mouth 

 agape. The real mother bird soon came, sat beside her extravagant off- 

 spring, and coaxed it away. The notes of (1) and (2) might be vocalized 

 titit or tutut, in combinations of two, three, or more notes. A wren sounded 

 this tutut whilst ascending a vine in its quick, jerky fashion ; it was tutut 

 and a jerk upwards, tutut and another jerk, as though the bird had to wind 

 itself up for each movement, and one heard the snapping of the tiny pawls 

 of its lilliputian winding-gear. When the note was strengthened, as in the 

 middle part of (9), the aperture was evidently widened, from the i of it to 

 the u of tut, and the note dropped a semitone. 



The Yellow-breasted Tit. 



The cascade song (1) was continued in the strain (4). The vibrato, 

 dropping a quarter-tone, was so rapid that it was almost a burr or throb. 

 The whole was sung almost as softly as the chirping song of the wren ; the 

 bird sat still, and the tail quivered in sympathy with the vibrato. On the 

 16tli January, 1912, the cascade song dropped from h to g by five steps, so 





M 



(g) it/r-'Z (yja-aa. 



wnM^Tg jT gfg q 



fat/3t A/ /■3fi'ntsJ 



that the intervals would appear to have been slightly less than quarter- 

 tones. No. (5) was noted in Kennedy's Bush on the 18th January, 1912, 

 and was sung several times. The notes of (6) were sharp whistles ; the 

 bird usually announced his sudden appearance with these, as though they 

 gave the warning call of the watchman of the wood-fairies. In reply to the 

 call (7) in a series of three pairs, another bird answered with the cascade 

 song of (1) six or eight times in succession. 



The Parrakeet. 



The common cry of (1) was different both in pitch and vocalization 

 in (4). A curious combination of sounds was heard in (5) : it was as though 

 a squad of raw recruits were being drilled by an irascible officer. 



.«i 



ic hejwck Dc be .fui7A 'h,te<fu;.J fyesryitci^ Tu-f^^n,- tur^M to i^T"" 



The Long-tailed Cuckoo. 



Several variants of the cry of (1) are given. The tiueet of (6) was 

 repeated alone a dozen times or more at intervals of 3 or 4 seconds, 



(4)2* >:» (4^)r*^„(4 "> 



interspersed with tsiwi of (7). Whilst two birds were circling over the trees, 

 wheet rvlieet wheel was repeated quickly, four times a second, many times at 

 intervals. 



