238 THE CHAFFINCH. 



Attractive Qualities. The chief of these is undoubtedly its 

 song. It has besides, however, different cries, by means of 

 which it expresses its desires and wants. The cry of affection, 

 which also seems to announce a change of weather, is Treef, 

 treef; the call which it utters while on its migrations is a 

 repeated Yak, yak; and the note Fink, fink, from which it 

 derives its name, is heard so frequently as to warrant the con- 

 jecture that it is involuntary. Its clear, penetrating song, 

 however, is still more remarkable than these notes, and is 

 distinguished from that of all other birds, by its near approach 

 to articulate speech. This is expressed in German by the 

 word Schlag ftrili ?J Each bird possesses one, two, three, or 

 even four different songs, each of which is divisible into several 

 parts, and occupies perhaps two seconds in the utterance. As 

 the Chaffinch is among the most prized of our Cage-birds, con- 

 noisseurs have not only observed its various songs, but noted 

 down every syllable of them, and endeavoured to supply, by 

 instruction, its natural defects. As I am myself a great ad- 

 mirer of the song of the Chaffinch, and always keep a consider- 

 able number of good singers, I should not find it difficult to 

 write a volume on this subject. I shall, however, confine my- 

 self to what seems most important. 



The names by which the various songs of the Chaffinch are 

 known, are generally derived from the last syllable of the sen- 

 tence which these birds are supposed to utter. The following, 

 which I place in the order in which they are prized, are most 

 esteemed in Thuringia. 



1 . The double trill of the Hartz consists of five long passages 

 or strains, the last of which ends in the syllables " Weingeh " 

 (pronounced "vine-gay "), dwelt upon at considerable length. 

 This is a song which, if not created, has certainly been brought 

 to perfection in the aviary ; and I very much doubt if a wild 

 Chaffinch, even in the Hartz mountains, has ever uttered it with 

 the same degree of completeness as I have heard it at Ruhl,* 



* Ruhl is a manufacturing village in Thuringia, the inhabitants of which, 

 chiefly cutlers, are passionate admirers of this bird. It is not uncommon 

 for them to go as far as the Hartz mountains a distance of above eighty 

 miles in hopes of snaring a good bird ; and they have even been known 

 to give a cow in exchange for a celebrated singer. Hence a proverbial 

 expression, with regard to the merits of a valuable Chaffinch, " that it is 

 worth a cow." A real connoisseur in Chaffinches is enraptured when he 

 hears one which is able to sing the double trill of the Hartz perfectly ; 



