THE FINCHES 137 



note as the call-note, whilst the " whit" besides being an alarm-note, 

 may also be uttered to make a noise, or attract attention. Also the 

 "tysh" though it remains the autumn note, may be heard at other 

 seasons. 1 



It will be admitted that all this is very confusing, and, personally, 

 I think that the meanings supposed to be conveyed by birds, in their 

 various notes, have been far too much specialised, that a much greater 

 defmiteness than they really possess, with a corresponding exclusive- 

 ness, has been read into them. They correspond, as I believe, to 

 various emotional states, each of which may cover a wide area indeed, 

 so wide a one as to give to the cry no very particular significance. 

 The song or cries peculiar to, or characteristic of, the breeding-season, 

 do, indeed, relate to the activities which then arise ; yet within these 

 limits there is, again, much indefiniteness, or these very notes them- 

 selves may be pressed into the service of other states of mind, and be 

 uttered at other seasons. It should be remembered that a bird must 

 either be silent or utter some note, on every occasion, so that unless 

 it be held that every occasion moving to utterance has its special one, 

 there must almost necessarily be a considerable putting-to-all-work. 

 When a cry is uttered upon various occasions standing in no relation, 

 or even in an opposite relation, to one another, it is absurd, as it 

 seems to me, to credit it with such different or opposite meanings. 

 Rather it has no meaning, in any proper sense of the word, but is 

 merely a part of that bird a vocal symbol of Caelebs, Carduelis, etc. 



The brarnbling has a harsh, chirping call-note, which, according to 

 Forrest, 2 is quite different from that of any other finch, but according 

 to Lilford 3 is not unlike the "pink" of the chaffinch, though sharper 

 and quite unmistakable. The latter thinks that the song, "low and 

 harsh," resembles that of the greenfinch, in which Yarrell, who says 

 that it ends in a " hoarse and droning note," agrees with him, adding 

 that it is " not in the least like a chaffinch's." 4 Collett, however, who 



1 C. A. Witchell, Cries and Call-notes of Wild Birds. 



2 Fauna of N. Wales. 3 Birds of NortJiampton. 

 * Hist, of Brit. Birds. 



