44 
BIRD-LIFE. 
much ease and certainty as he can distinguish by their 
sounds different musical instruments one from the other. 
It is as difficult to confound the song of a warbler with 
the note of a finch, as it would be to mistake the 
flute-like tones of a Blackbird for the twitter of a Swallow. 
A safe guide for such discrimination is found in the 
relative volume, roundness and strength of the tones. 
Many birds of different species have a very similar song, 
except that the position of the accent and the union of 
certain strophes afford an easy clue to the difference. 
The Chaffinch and the great Tit both utter the sounds 
“fink, fink;” but the accent and ring is so different 
in the two species that the practised ear can at once 
decide which of them is calling. In the same way an 
adept discriminates the note (hoid) of a Redstart from 
that of the Willow Wren (S. Trochilus ); he can readily 
determine by ear what bird is crying “tak, tak,” 
although it is common to them all, whether Blackbird, 
Thrush, Blackcap, lesser Whitethroat or Sedge Warbler, 
and so on. 
Songsters are also distinguished by the compass of 
their voice; while the leaders among singing birds, such 
as the Philomel Nightingale (S. philomela ) and the 
common Nightingale, have a compass of several octaves, 
the Whitethroat and the Lark can command only four 
full tones, but both know how to combine and blend them 
in so incomparable a strain that one can listen to them 
for hours together with ever-increasing delight. Many 
birds are entirely without the gift of song: thus, the 
brown-headed Timalia pileata, of India, only sings the 
five notes, c, d, e, f, g, in the diatonic scale, several 
times in succession in full purity, and without introducing 
half or quarter tones; it is all they can do to reach a 
