THE FURZE-WREN 175 



presence of a human being near him. Heard at a con- 

 siderable distance, the lower notes in the song of the 

 furze-wren are lost, and the sound that reaches the 

 ear might be taken for a stonechat, or linnet, or 

 dunnock, or even a pipit. The whitethroat, heard in 

 the same localities, has a louder, coarser song, which is 

 not much softened or etherealised by distance. The 

 whitethroat's girding or chiding note is familiar to 

 every one ; the chiding note of the furze-wren is like 

 the same note subdued and softened. It is this same 

 chiding or scolding note which is used in singing, only 

 louder and more musical and uttered with such extra- 

 ordinary rapidity that the note may be repeated 

 eighteen or twenty times in three seconds of time. 

 The most hurried singing of the sedge-warbler seems 

 an almost languid performance in comparison. This 

 rapid utterance produces the effect of a continuous 

 or sustained sound, like the reeling of the grass-hopper- 

 warbler ; the character of the sound is, however, not 

 the same ; it is rather like a buzzing or droning, as of 

 a stag beetle or cockchafer in flight, only with a slightly 

 metallic and musical quality added. This buzzing 

 stream of sound is interspersed with small, fine, bright, 

 clear notes, both shrill and mellow. Some of these 

 are very pure and beautiful. 



Meredith says of the lark's song that it is a 



silver chain of sound 

 Of many links, without a break. 



The same may be said of many other songsters all the 



