62 MATESHIP WITH BIRDS 



The rich, sweet enunciation of those Thrush 

 words are characteristic of the bird. To particu- 

 larise just shortly, there are the sweet, chuckling 

 melody of Autumn, the four-note, intimate call of 

 invitation to the nearing Spring, the challenging 

 tumult of mating-time, the loud, single call of 

 alarm when danger menaces the nest, and the pierc- 

 ing scream of odd moments. But no one bar or note 

 is so generally used as that quoted in the words, 

 ''Dick, Dick, Dick's a pret-ty boy." It has got into 

 Australian poetry, not in those precise words for 

 human interpretations will vary greatly but in a 

 dainty plea for dalliance : 



A wild Thrush down where the flood waves rolled 

 Pipes to the water, the blossoms, the day, 



To the passing pageant of blue and gold: 

 "Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't-go-away!" 



Very few Australian bird-notes, indeed, have so 

 lent themselves to human transcription as those of 

 the neighborly Thrush this soft-eyed creature 

 whose friendly ways have caused it to become known 

 as "the woman's bird." When the "Grey Thrush 

 in the wattle tree" called "Oh, you pretty dear!" in 

 the hearing of "Jim o' the Hills" (Dennis), the bird 

 was obviously in its sweet Spring voice. And many 

 another merry, stuttering phrase, full of good con- 

 ceit, may be gathered from the sympathetic inter- 

 pretation of Miss C. B. Coutts, a lady to whom I am 

 glad to render acknowledgment as the part-director 

 of these fancies at the old school. Her "Bob-bob- 

 bob-bob, White-cap!" is a close transcription of 

 another Thrush bar (akin to that in Miss Cole's 

 verse, quoted above), and the last stanza of her 



