SILENCE AND MUSIC 155 



that incomparable note, and the carmine colour which 

 comes not on his feathers in captivity, express his 

 gladness in a free aerial life. 



If we except that one angelical note, the linnet is 

 nearly on a level as a singer with the other species I 

 have named; but the stonechat comes first in the 

 order of merit, and I think the whinchat comes next. 

 The ornithological books on this point tell us only 

 that the stonechat has a short and simple, or a short 

 but pleasant (or not unpleasant) song ; and there is 

 indeed not much more to say of it as we usually hear 

 it. No sooner does he catch sight of a human form 

 in his haunts than he is all excitement and trouble, 

 and will flit and perch and flit again from bush top to 

 bush top, perpetually uttering his two little contrasted 

 alarm notes, the chock, chack, as of two pebbles 

 struck together, which he has in common with other 

 chats, and the thin little sorrowful piping sound. 

 This anxious temper keeps him from singing in our 

 presence, and causes us to think that he sings but 

 rarely. Then, too, his voice is not strong, and does not 

 carry well, and it is not strange that when heard in a 

 place where bird-notes are many and loud it attracts 

 but little attention. Heard in the perfect silence of 

 the downland atmosphere, where the shghtest sound 

 flies far, it strikes me as a very delicate and beautiful 

 song, in its character unlike that of any other British 

 species. 



One day last June I had a pleasant experience with 



