THE FINCHES 141 



The sweet " dee-ew" or "dee-it" of the bullfinch, being its call, 

 which upon another note or two becomes its song also, has been 

 already referred to. 1 It has been described as a whistle, more feel- 

 ingly as an " inward warble," in making which the bird " puffs out its 

 feathers and labours violently." 2 



For the hawfinch, his call-note, according to Seebohm, 3 is a sharp 

 click, no doubt that which is referred to by Millais as a "peculiar 

 clinking note," heard during flight, and unmistakable. Naumann 

 calls it a sharp "zicks" or "knipps" but considers that a long "zih" 

 (" zee "), also uttered on the wing or just before flying, is the more 

 usual call-note, which, by rapid repetition, is changed into that of 

 alarm. The song he describes as long, but poor, made up of the 

 "zicks" aforesaid, and becoming, when many of the birds join in 

 concert, "ein sonderbares unangenehmes i Geschwirr " (" a strange, disagree- 

 able chattering "). A bird, however still less a bird's song is never 

 without a champion, and here both Macgillivray and Montagu come 

 to the rescue, the former asserting that the hawfinch "sings pleas- 

 antly in low, plaintive notes, even in winter," 5 the latter 6 that its " soft 

 tones" resemble those of the bullfinch. To some extent this is 

 confirmed by Seebohm, who describes the song as "four simple whistles 

 on an ascending scale, the first two at a slight interval, and the last 

 two repeated rapidly, one after the other, the final one being somewhat 

 drawn out." 7 It would appear, therefore, that the hawfinch can sing 

 " both high and low," or at any rate in two very different manners. 



The crossbill's call, mostly uttered in flight, has been rendered 

 "tsip-tsip" or "tsup-tsup" "yip-yip," "yep-yep" or "yup yup" "gip-gip" 

 "gup-gup" "sit-sit" and so on 8 the class of sound maybe imagined, the 

 spelling, as in all such cases, must depend somewhat on "the taste 

 and fancy of the speller." Seebohm 10 also speaks of a special call 



1 Ante, p. 98. * Borrer, Birds of Sussex. 



3 Hist. Brit. Birds. Millais, I think, is here quoted. 



4 Naturgeschichte der Vogel Mitteleuropas, iii. 5 A History of British Birds. 

 6 As quoted by Macgillivray, A History of British Birds. 



' A History of British Birds. 8 Seebohm, Ussher, Warren, Witchell, etc. 



9 Dickens, Pickwick Papers. Op. tit. 



