194 WILD BIRDS 



goldcrests, and tree-creepers ; but the difficulty 

 would be not to collect them all it would be to get 

 even a fair number of them into syllables. Many are 

 quite beyond our power to pronounce. The note 

 of the long-tailed titmouse is perhaps hardest of all 

 the titmice to syllable. It has three distinct notes, 

 uttered as the flock moves from tree to tree. Most 

 frequent is its tiniest, lowest sound. This is not at 

 all like many bird sounds, but a soft note, somewhat 

 like " tat " or " chat " ; little more than a whisper, 

 so faint is it, even though the bird is close above one's 

 head. It reminds me of the notes of the lesser 

 whitethroat fledglings following their parents in the 

 July woods. Now and again this " tat " or " chat " 

 is exchanged for the familiar call of the long-tailed 

 titmouse a note impossible to spell, but perhaps 

 a little like " tchar-r-r-r-r " certainly with a drawn- 

 out or dwelt-on r sound at the end. The third is the 

 quick, lively cry of " zee-zee-zee," which I notice 

 more often during the nesting season than when the 

 birds are moving about in flocks. This note can be 

 syllabled. 



Watching the titmice flocks often in the winter, 

 I have never been able to translate these three 

 distinct notes into distinct meanings. They may 

 have different meanings. One might be merely a 

 note constantly sounded to keep the flock together ; 

 another might announce a good " find " of some 

 kind of food and be an invitation to the flock to 

 come and share in it. But we can only speculate, 

 we cannot discriminate for sure between the notes : 



