CRIES OF YOUNG BIRDS 129 



distinct from the yell of the linnet, greenfinch, 

 and redpoll, when able to fly. The call of the 

 young house-sparrow is simply chissick or chirri, 

 pronounced very briefly practically the same as 

 that with which the adult male calls the female, 

 especially in early spring, when the cry is often 

 repeated by him scores of times without variation. 

 I have not heard the female utter the exclama- 

 tion. The young sparrow makes great use of 

 this note shortly after leaving the nest, at which 

 period of life the young of all birds are most 

 clamorous. The young chaffinch at the same 

 age utters as a call for food a cry very like that 

 of the young house-sparrow, but with a degree of 

 resemblance varying in different individuals : in 

 some it is so like this cry that it has deceived me, 

 and I have imagined the exclaimer to belong to 

 the latter species, before seeing the bird at a short 

 distance. This cry, in a somewhat abbreviated 

 character, is uttered by the adult chaffinches as 

 a love -call. In the fourth edition of Yarrell's 

 British Birds (vol. ii. p. 89) is a note recording 

 that the house-sparrow was formerly called " Philip " 

 sparrow from its note : this cry somewhat resembles 

 philip^ but is better rendered as chissick. In Mon- 

 treal I observed that the house -sparrow, which is 

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