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- 



