FAMILY Fringillldx. 



can be directly traced to the metallic, cut-glass-jingle 

 quality of the notes of both birds, and to the slurring, 

 chirping way in which these notes are delivered. Only 

 these two species can give us that long, violinlike, 

 swinging tone which covers nearly an octave in its 

 reach upward on the musical scale; here it is: 



<fhrice Bva 





One is often deceived into thinking a Canary is in a 

 neighboring tree, when that familiar c-h-e-e-p comes 

 from it. To be sure, that is only the call-note, but it has 

 the same character that pervades the whole song of the 

 Goldfinch, which, as a matter of fact, consists entirely of 

 a series of rapid chirps with almost no melodic form. It 

 is impossible to find in this Finch's song the melody which 

 is so attractive in the music of the Song Sparrow, or the 

 rhythmic form which makes the White-throated Spar- 

 row's melody so charming. We must look for some- 

 thing else which will reveal the Goldfinch's "style"; 

 that will be discovered in the following arrangement 

 of dots: 



These dots practically mean six or more rising chirps, 

 three or more falling ones, and two clusters of four 

 notes which Mr. Chapman and others describe by the 

 words per-chic-o-ree. This, however, is not an arbitrary 

 form; the bird may begin with several chirps in a falling 

 inflexion and thus reverse the order given above, and he 

 may also give a different number of chirps; but inevi- 

 tably at the close of the exuberant chirping he will add 

 his per-chic-o-ree, and when he does that, he signs his 

 musical autograph as perfectly as he would if he could 

 write at the end of the music bars " American Gold- 

 finch 1 " The music on the staff does not appear different 

 from the dots: 



