File:Birds through the year (1922) (14568728860).jpg

Identifier: birdsthroughyear00thom (find matches)
Title: Birds through the year
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: Thomas, William Beach, Sir, 1868-1957 Collet, Anthony Keeling, 1877-
Subjects: Birds -- Great Britain Birds -- Pictorial works
Publisher: London, Edinburgh, T.C. and E.C. Jack, ltd
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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/ ** tne relationship. The garden- iL&yW v//W> warblers is sweeter than the white- /^0£^ ,/^W throats, and the blackcaps more (V)//I varied than either; but a good blackcap whitethroats song may easily be mistaken for a poor garden-warb-lers, and a poor blackcaps for a good garden-warblers.Careful watching for the singer may result in a surprise forthe naturalist who is most confident of his ability to dis-tinguish the three songs. Typical songs are easily identified,but there are deceptive variations. Goldfinches often haunt the same high boughs which theblackcap likes, but they are also fond of quiet gardens. Linnetsare less domestic, loving above all a wild furzy common ; butthey also haunt hedges and garden shrubberies. There is afamily likeness in the songs of both these dainty little finches,and the goldfinch, by its greater vivacity, is the more popu-lar. But there is a sibilant harshness in its song which isless pleasing to many ears than the softer and more plaintive
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COCK LINNET IN SUMMER PLUMAGE (UPPER BIRD) AND HEN.By A. W. Seaby. THE FULL CHORUS 97 music of the brown linnet. It is gay, but lacking in sweet-ness. Both songs are unmistakably of the flowing type ;they run on indefinitely, whereas we know exactly when andhow the chaffinchs will end. Out in the open fields theskylarks reeling and unbroken song makes an even morestriking contrast with the notes of the tree or meadow pipit,which it closely resembles in plumage. A skylarks full songusually lasts between two and three minutes; but there isnothing in its structure to show when it is coming to an end.In this it is like the bagpipes ; both lark and piper know theright time to stop, but it is not apparent to the hearer. As the freest and most flowing songs are the furthestremoved from such elementary repetitions as the notes of thecorncrake or chiffchaff, it might seem logical to regard themas the most perfect kind of bird music. But this would byno means be true. Many of the finest singers

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