OUR IRISH SONG BIRDS. 



Birds which add to their song a " pink " at the close are 

 very highly prized ; the bird-fanciers call this the 

 " Amen." I have heard, I think, but one " Amen Chaf- 

 finch" in Ireland. 



Mr. Hudson says of the Chaffinch's song : " Sitting 

 by the fireside in January, you can mentally hear it ; but 

 the brain is incapable of registering the more copious 

 and varied bird-music in the same perfect way, the 

 music, for instance, of the Skylark, and Thrush, and 

 Garden Warbler." 



Bechstein, however, tells us that the song of the 

 wild Chaffinches in England far exceeds that of the 

 cage birds in Germany. The well-known call-note of 

 the Chaffinch, " pink, pink," or, as the Germans think, 

 " fink, fink," is said to be the origin of our English word 

 " finch." It may be heard all the year round, and is 

 uttered both by cock and hen ; but another note, " wheet, 

 vvheet," proceeds from the male bird alone, and is heard 

 only in the breeding-season. 



The Chaffinch is often called " Edelfink," i.e., " noble 

 finch," in Germany ; and the Germans think that his 

 song resembles more than that of any other bird the 

 human voice. 



Chaffinches are said to " record " for about four weeks, 

 gradually putting the song together ; but promising 

 vocalists have sufficient practice in a week or fortnight. 



The term ccelebs (" the Bachelor ") was applied to the 

 Chaffinch by Linnaeus, from the fact that the males 

 alone remain in Sweden during the winter, the females 

 migrating further south, through Holland into Italy. 

 Gilbert White's observations confirm this curious fact ; 

 he says that, of large flocks in the fields at Christmas, 



