NOTES AND QUERIES. 269 
earlier travellers reach this country, arriving in the first half of April, while 
the mass belonging to the second wave do not arrive till the end of April or 
beginning of May. 2. On the whole the dates of arrival are later than I 
myself, and I think others, had fancied they used to be. In connection 
with this I would draw attention to the date in my table of 1895, when I 
was in the South of France and the Riviera. Until April 13th I did not 
see a single Martin, not even at Aigues Mortes, near the Delta of the 
Rhone, where the Swallows were arriving in great numbers. Such Martins 
as arrive in England by this route could not that year have reached their 
destination till quite the end of the month. This record therefore seems to 
tally closely with the majority of those made in England. I will not 
venture to conclude too hastily that the arrival of this bird has of recent 
years been getting later, but there is some slight indication in the tables 
that this may be the case. If it were so the fact might be accounted for, as 
Mr. Aplin has suggested to me, by the very obvious diminution in the 
numbers of the species in this country; the first arrivals, being few and 
far between, would be more liable to be overlooked than in former years.— 
W. Warve Fowter (Lincoln: College, Oxford). 
The Song of the ChaffinchAlthough I am not sure that I quite 
agree with Mr. Witchell’s views respecting the song of the Chaffinch, I am 
glad that he has drawn attention to it in his interesting paper in ‘ The 
Zoologist’ (ante, p. 195). To me the song seems a remarkable one for 
two reasons :—I1st. The difficulty with which in most cases it seems to be 
put together in every year, some birds requiring weeks to do this, others 
succeeding ina few days. 2nd. The great difference in the song of different 
individuals, some having a really fine and impressive song, whilst others 
have only a very poor and monotonous ditty. Nowhere have I heard such 
fine performers as in Earl Fitzwilliam’s woods at Shillelagh, far famed for 
its splendid oak trees. At Ardmayle, near Cashel, I heard Chaffinches 
with call-notes differing from any I have heard elsewhere, and this year, at 
Killaloe, I felt certain for some time that I was listening to a Bullfinch 
rather than to our old friend Fringilla celebs. The Chaffinch’s song has 
been written down in various ways. Some London dealers think the best 
strain is like “ ring ring rattle chuck wido.” ‘The German version, how- 
ever, seems to me to be the best: “ Pritz pritz pritz, will’stdu dem mit dem 
Brautigam zieren,” some substituting “pink” for the initial “ pritz.” 
Perhaps some of your readers would kindly say whether they have ever 
heard a Chaffinch conclude its song with what fanciers call the ‘‘amen”; I 
mean the familiar “pink” or “fink” at the close. I have heard but one 
amen ” Chaffinch in my life, but I should like to hear another.—CuarLEs 
_ W. Benson (Rathmines School, Dublin). 
