FAMILY Fringillidz. 
can be directly traced to the metallic, cut-glass-jingle 
quality of the notes of both birds, and to the slurring, 
chirping way in which these notes are delivered. Only 
these two species can give us that long, violinlike, 
swinging tone which covers nearly an octave in its 
reach upward on the musical scale; here it is: 
Thrice 8va..... 
C-h-e-e-p 
One is often deceived into thinking a Canary is in a 
neighboring tree, when that familiar c-h-e-e-p comes 
from it. To be sure, that is only the call-note, but it has 
the same character that pervades the whole song of the 
Goldfinch, which, as a matter of fact, consists entirely of 
a series of rapid chirps with almost no melodic form. It 
is impossible to find in this Finch’s song the melody which 
is so attractive in the music of the Song Sparrow, or the 
rhythmic form which makes the White-throated Spar- 
row’s melody so charming. We must look for some- 
thing else which will reveal the Goldfinch’s ‘‘ style”; 
that will be discovered in the following arrangement. 
of dots: 
e oe ® e@ e e@ 
t 
er ee ce ee ee ome aa io thy e*e. 
These dots practically mean six or more rising chirps, 
three or more falling ones, and two clusters of four 
notes which Mr. Chapman and others describe by the 
words per-chic-o-ree. This, however, is not an arbitrary 
form; the bird may begin with several chirps in a falling 
inflexion and thus reverse the order given above, and he 
may also give a different number of chirps; but inevi- 
tably at the close of the exuberant chirping he will add 
his per-chic-o-ree, and when he does that, he signs his 
musical autograph as perfectly as he would if he could 
write at the end of the music bars—‘‘ American Gold- 
finch!” The inusic on the staff does not appear different 
from the dots: 
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