. Birds through the year . This is moremusical than othernotes uttered bythis tribe of birds ;tits notes havegenerally a twang-ing or metallic ringwhich makes themeasily attributableto one species of GREAT TIT the tribe> ^OUgh their variety makesit often hard to identify them more particularly withoutcareful observation. The blue tits spring song consists oftwo or three plaintive calls followed by a tinkling peal—much like a small silver bell sharply pulled and echoingout its peal. This song is constantly uttered by the cockbird as it hunts among the twigs in acrobatic attitudes, oftenwith
. Birds through the year . This is moremusical than othernotes uttered bythis tribe of birds ;tits notes havegenerally a twang-ing or metallic ringwhich makes themeasily attributableto one species of GREAT TIT the tribe> ^OUgh their variety makesit often hard to identify them more particularly withoutcareful observation. The blue tits spring song consists oftwo or three plaintive calls followed by a tinkling peal—much like a small silver bell sharply pulled and echoingout its peal. This song is constantly uttered by the cockbird as it hunts among the twigs in acrobatic attitudes, oftenwith its mate in attendance. Missel-thrushes are sometimes heard singing as early asDecember; but their free song is usually first heard fromsome lofty bough on a morning or evening in February,when there is a noticeable increase in the light as comparedwith the short dark days. It is more like the blackbirdsand ring-ousels song than that of the song-thrush ; and it isoften mistaken for the blackbirds when heard early in the. \ PAIRING AND EARLY SONG 357 year. It consists of a phrase of three sweet notes, deeperand richer than the song-thrushs, and repeated with littlevariation often for a great length of time. On a Februaryor March morning, with a bright light and a strong windthat bends the boughs, the missel-thrush will often singalmost uninterruptedly hour after hour on some lofty perchin a poplar or elm. It makes littledifference to the birds spirit and \\enjoyment if a driving north-west \\wind brings showers of cold rain orhail. The birds apparent delight inboisterous weather has given it thecommon country name of storm-cock. Blackbirds dislike such riotousweather; if they are heard in Feb-ruary, it is generally on some morn-ing of premature sunshine, whenthe crocuses in the south borders areyawning their utmost to the bees, orat sunset on some unusually mild evening. Often they arenot heard until March. With a little practice it is not hardto distinguish the two birds song
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirdspi, bookyear1922
