THE THRUSH GENUS 397 



Apart from a kind of almost indescribable squeak or squeal 

 that I have heard from the beak of a thrush before roosting, and 

 that is probably uttered also by the blackbird, the only other notes 

 I have heard so far in the case of these species is the loud clamour 

 set up when they are caught. This, according to Naumann, is 

 common to all the Thrushes that form the subject of this chapter. 



Not much can be said of the notes of the mistle-thrush. Its 

 harsh alarm-notes are familiar, and have been compared to the 

 sound produced by running a piece of wood over a comb. The 

 redwing's call-notes are a soft twip ! and the harsher tchik ! The 

 latter is probably also an alarm note. Naumann gives it an 

 additional note, sherk! used when alarmed and when fighting. On 

 migration it is a noisy species, whether flying by day or night, the 

 note, according to Mr. A. H. Patterson, being "a sharp grating 

 s-you!" The fieldfare's notes have been referred to on p. 366. Mr. 

 Abel Chapman 1 states that on migration it utters "a low single 

 pipe, quite different from the ordinary note." The ring-ouzel, again 

 according to Naumann, has " besides the tac ! " an additional note 

 to express more intense anxiety or anger which he syllables as wick ! 

 or griek! and which in moments of excitement is uttered in rapid 

 succession, as is also the more common tac ! 2 



All these species, including the thrush and blackbird, have 

 possibly notes uttered only in the breeding season. Of them we 

 shall know more when the thrushes find their philologist, some one 

 with patience and a fine ear, and, last but not least, time at his 

 disposal to undertake what can only be a labour of love, though 

 not love's labour lost. 



1 Bird Life of the Borders, 2nd edit., p. 7. 2 Vdgel Mitteleuropas, i. p. 168. 



