FAMILY Frlngillidx. 



of the song to ascertain exactly what is meant by 

 that simple but expressive English word warble. In old 

 French, the word werbler meant to speak with a high 

 voice. The German wirbeln also means to warble, or to 

 whirl; evidently our English word, therefore, has been 

 adopted to describe a voice which sings high, and quav- 

 eringly or whirlingly. That, to my mind, is precisely 

 the way warbling birds sing! Run your eye rapidly 

 along the dots and dashes above which represent the 

 Purple Finch's song, follow them with the pencil's point 

 and at the same time whistle quaveringly and rapidly 

 any notes you please, comprehending, say, an interval 

 of a sixth, and you will have an approximate represen- 

 tation of this Finch's song. The dashes, of course, rep- 

 resent slurred tones, the character of which has been 

 fully explained in the musical key. The dots should be 

 considered as so many distinct tones given with a musi- 

 cal shake. Call this shake a trill if you prefer the 

 word, but be sure that you shake or trill on each one of 

 the dots, and do it very rapidly, too, for the song as 

 above written must not occupy a fraction more than 

 three (see metronome figures given at head of song) 

 seconds of time! To be still nearer the truth, it is also 

 necessary for you to " burr" all the notes, that is, hum 

 and whistle simultaneously. No doubt the directions 

 appear complicated, but in comparison with the pronun- 

 ciation by an English tongue of a German expression 

 like Ausgegrabenes Buch, the difficulty with the bird's 

 song is merely child's play I 



But how easy it is, after all, to follow the notes prop- 

 erly recorded on the musical staff: 



Sfmjore dole* <irfa - mf Client dim. 



tt tremolo.' (The bird smgs in odd ff higher:) 



j: j 

 *- 9 



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