The Warblers : The Grey Warbler 
55 
continued beyond the variation when that was introduced; 
during the following year, however, it continued after the 
variation as after the ordinary close. It will be observed that 
the notes are here in twos; not in the more usual threes. 
A simple little theme (12) heard at Hokitika, was in twos, 
varied by the introduction of triplets, as in (13). The phrases 
may be repeated several times in succession. The theme took 
two seconds or a little over, and other variations were recorded 
at the time. 
The bird does not weave several themes into one continuous 
song: it appears to have a number of themes, and sings some¬ 
times one, sometimes another, lengthening its song simply by 
repetition. At times the song is made up of a curious alter¬ 
nation of loud and soft notes, which quite alters its character 
according as it is heard at a distance or near by. The notes 
of (14), a long fairly loud note followed by a soft staccato note, 
were heard in Wellington, but on a nearer approach the long 
note was resolved into triplets as in (15), the soft staccato 
note being the third of the second triplet, though it sounded 
like the introductory note of the following triplet. These 
notes are very quickly uttered, the whole of the phrase (15) 
taking only about two seconds, perhaps nearer a second and a 
half. The same alternation of soft and loud n&t-es is* heard in 
many other variations, but a few only are noted here. 
There is a certain sameness, though not monotony, in most 
of the foregoing songs taken as a whole, but (16) is of quite 
a different character. This, heard in Wellington, was very 
quickly and very softly sung, the whole in little over two 
seconds, and repeated several times. Though there was but little 
variation in the notes the charm lay in the quaint vocalization, 
which sounded almost like “Cheerily, oh ye oh; ye oh; ye oh; 
cheerily oh ye oh,” the i in ti and ri being short like the i in hit. 
There was accent on the first of each six only, and the slurred 
note was very staccato, and it may have been the vocalization 
that caused the apparent drop of an octave. The warbler s 
notes are often near vocalization, but these were exceptionally 
distinctly vocalized. Very distinctive is (17), in which the low 
