FAMILY Fringillide. 
of the song to ascertain exactly what is meant by 
that simple but expressive English word warble. In old 
French, the word werbler meant to speak with a high 
voice. The German wirbeln also means to warble, or to 
whirl; evidently our English word, therefore, has been 
adopted to describe a voice which sings high, and quav- 
eringly or whirlingly. That, to my mind, is precisely 
the way warbling birds sing! Run your eye rapidly 
along the dots and dashes above which represent the 
Purple Finch’s song, follow them with the pencil’s point 
and at the same time whistle quaveringly and rapidly 
any notes you please, comprehending, say, an interval 
of asixth, and you will have an approximate represen- 
tation of this Finch’s song. The dashes, of course, rep- 
resent slurred tones, the character of which has been 
fully explained in the musical key. The dots should be 
considered as so many distinct tones given with a musi- 
cal shake. Call this shake a frill if you prefer the 
word, but be sure that you shake or trill on each one of 
the dots, and do it very rapidly, too, for the song as 
above written must not occupy a fraction more than 
three (see metronome figures given at head of song) 
seconds of time! To be still nearer the truth, it is also 
necessary tor you to ‘‘ burr” all the notes, that is, hum 
and whistle simultaneously. No doubt the directions 
appear complicated, but in comparison with the pronun- 
ciation by an English tongue of a German expression 
like Ausgegrabenes Buch, the difficulty with the bird’s 
song is merely child’s play! 
But how easy it is, after all, to follow the notes prop- 
erly recorded on the musical staff: 
-= 176 P. t t 
Rea ay (4 
a 
nae > me ee 
G.T Ee _.aae > aa 
Sempre dolce STS rf. 
et tremolo. (The bird sings an octave higher) 
