46 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



sweetest of all. It is true that there are thou- 

 sands, nay, millions of things sights and sounds 

 and perfumes which are or may be described as 

 sweet, so common is the metaphor, and this too 

 common use has perhaps somewhat degraded it; 

 but in this case there is no other word so well 

 suited to describe the sensation produced. 



The tree-pipit has a comparatively short song, 

 repeated, with some variation in the number and 

 length of the notes, at brief intervals. The open- 

 ing notes are thick and throaty, and similar in 

 character to the throat-notes of many other 

 species in this group, a softer sound than the 

 throat-notes of the skylark and woodlark, which 

 they somewhat resemble. The canary-like trills 

 and thin piping notes, long drawn out, which fol- 

 low vary greatly in different individuals, and in 

 many cases the trills are omitted. But the con- 

 cluding notes of the song I am considering which 

 is only one note repeated again and again are 

 clear and beautifully inflected, and have that qual- 

 ity of sweetness, of lusciousness, I have men- 

 tioned. The note is uttered with a downward 

 fall, more slowly and expressively at each repeti- 

 tion, as if the singer felt overcome at the sweet- 



