April 1, 1897.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



Si 



ILUSTRATED MAGAZIN 



iTERAT 



LONDON: APRIL 1, 1897. 



CONTENTS. 



Bird ■ Songs in Spring. By Chaeles A. Witchbil 



English Medals.— I. Bv G. P. Hul, M.A. (Illvstrated) 



(Plate) 



On the Progress of Chemistry and the Chemical 



Arts during the Queen's Reign. Bj rrofcssor 



Thorpe, LL.D., F.R.S 



An Archaeological Survey of the United Kingdom ... 

 The Maple Mould. By Eev. Alex. S. Wilson, M.A., 



B.Sc. (Illustrated) 



Science Notes {IUusti-a!ed) 



The Age of Mountains.— II. British Mountains. By 



Prof. J. Logan Lobiey, F.G-.S. {Illustrated) 



Notices of Books. (Illustrated) 



Short Notices , 



BooKa Received ... ... ... 



Letters: — A. Fowler ; T. W. BACKnorsE; FitA.\cis M. 



Du.vcAN (///Hji'TO/frf) ; W. E. Beslev 



Photograph of the Great Nebula in Orion. By Isaac 



EOBEETS, D.Sc, F.K.S. {Plate) 



The Story of a Useful Life. (Illiistratid) 



The Face of the Sky for April. By H. Sadleb, F.B.A.S. 

 Chess Column. By C. D. Locock, B.A.Oxon 



FAOE 



81 



82 



85 



88 



89 

 91 



92 

 95 

 97 



98 



98 



100 

 101 

 103 

 103 



BIRD-SONGS IN SPRING. 



By Chakles a. Witchell. 



SPRING, which is not yet a fortnight old, is the best 

 of all seasons for the observation of bird-songs; for 

 what song is not heard at this season ? It is not 

 possible to discuss the whole range of the subject — 

 why birds sing now, and how they sing — in one 

 article of ordinary length. More profitable will it be to 

 direct attention to certain important features of song which 

 offer to the field naturalist — nay, to every occupier of a 

 garden — an interesting theme, which has hitherto been 

 Bystematically investigated by only one or two people. 

 While every physical variation in birds has attracted the 

 fatal attention of ornithologists, the equally interesting 

 variations in voice have been almost wholly ignored ; yet 

 the latter, rather than the former, indicate the character of 

 the bird as a living and intelligent animal. It is true that 

 many vocal variations are too slight or too subtle to be 

 definitely described ; yet others are of a nature easily 

 indicated. 



The most simple feature to record is the repetition of 

 a single cry, uttered either by itself or alternately with 

 other ci'ies. This repetition is the alphabet of bird-song — 

 the primitive method which seems to have governed 

 the development of some of even the most sublime and 



passionate strains that delight u.^, as it undoubtedly governs 

 nearly every song we hear. There can hardly be any 

 necessity to quote evidence in support of this proposition, 

 for listening to a wild greenfinch or tree pipit, bunting or 

 wood wr.n, one hears but a little more than the repetition 

 of one or two notes ; and the same feature is noticeable in 

 nearly every other song, includ ng those of the nightingale. 

 It is least evident in the blackbird, blackcap, and robin. 

 But the most easily recorded variations are those in the 

 shortest songs, and in these will local variations be most 

 distinct. The singiug of three notes by a cuckoo, for 

 instance, has been recorded ; but how often may it have 

 occurred unnoticed '! If all the country readers of Know- 

 ledge were to listen for this single incident, as opportunity 

 offered, they might establish an important ornithological 

 fact. For they would prove the bird to be capable of 

 attaining a higher (more elaborate) grade of song than its 

 ordinary cry suggests. 



To instance a commoner species. The male house 

 sparrow's love call-note, rliissU-k (rarely heard except in the 

 breeding season, and then generally uttered near the site 

 of a nest), is dissyllabic ; but I have known two sparrows 

 which gave the cry as chississid.- — with three syllables. 

 One of these birds was at Stroud, Gloucestershire ; the 

 other is at New Eltham, Kent. The question is, how 

 often does this variation occur '? Does it not indicate an 

 advance upon the more simple ordinary note ? The 

 cuckoo and house sparrow may quite possibly sometimes 

 give four syllables instead of two, in their cries just men- 

 tioned ; but until the attention of observers shall have 

 been devoted to this subject, we shall not be able to point 

 to areas in which certain species have relatively advanced 

 beyond their primitive simpleness. There is hardly a 

 species which does not aflbrd in this one feature of bird 

 language a novel sithjeot for study. Has anyone heard a 

 chaffinch, for instance, repeat its alarm note, jink, so 

 rapidly as to make of it a single exclamation or phrase ? 

 Probably not ; yet the chaffinch is always tending towards 

 the development of this variation, and under the influence 

 of fear or anger it repeats the note at very short intervals. 

 The whitethroat (to mention a totally distinct race) has 

 distanced the chaffinch in this progress, as well as in 

 variety of song ; for its hard alarm-note, chick, is often 

 repeated so quickly that a sort of phrase is produced, such 

 as occurs in the alarms of many other birds, notably in 

 the blackbird, missel thrush, magpie, robin, house sparrow, 

 greenfinch, and great titmouse. The blackcap also has a 

 hard alarm-note, ('«■/,-, very like that of the whitethroat, 

 and often uttered ; but only twice have I heard it reiterate 

 this cry rapidly in the manner of a whitethroat. On both 

 of these occasions the bird was very much alarmed ; and 

 the intensifying of its emotions caused an increased 

 rapidity of the cry in which they were expressed — a 

 common incident in animal life. But the chaffinch, even 

 when terrified, has never to. my knowledge uttered a 

 phrase of alarm instead of its ordinary single cry. 



It may be well to mention here a local variation in the 

 voice of the chaffinch, which seems not to have been 

 recorded. I have obseryed it near Eltham, Kent, and 

 nowhere else. Had it occurred only once or twice it 

 would not have been very remarkable, but I noticed it in 

 about twenty birds, all males ; and a more important 

 circumstance is that the note is undoubtedly used partly 

 to express alarm. In "The Evolution of Bird- Song " I 

 have contended that the alarm-notes of allied birds are the 

 most similar, and that they are of more remote origin than 

 songs, which more often vary individually ; this note of the 

 chaffinch is therefore especially interesting. 



At the beginning of April last year a strange loud note 



