7. The Quakia song is so called from its last syllables, and is double or single, one with one strain, the other with two. This song was formerly very much admired. It was heard in the woods and house, but it is now lost, as all the wild chaffinches that sung it have been taken, and those in confinement have been taught in preference the good wine song: I believe I possess the only bird that is now to be found which sings this. To be admired, the quakia must be united with the double trill. This my chaffinch sings also.
8. The Pithia or Trewethia, is a very uncommon and agreeable song, which is never heard but in the depths of the Thuringian mountains. The bird-catchers of the villages about the forests of Hesse seek for birds that possess it, and actively pursue the songsters. It is first a sonorous strain, followed by several repetitions of the word “zack.” Some birds unite to it the common sharp wine song, and are more valued. The last syllables ought to sound “trewididæ.”
These eight varieties, or rather melodies, are those most thought of in Saxony and Hesse. I have said that some of them are heard in the woods; but it is very rarely that they are sung with so clear and strong a voice, or that they are so long and perfect. A chaffinch that knows only one of these varieties generally sings it slowly, and introduces a greater number of syllables. Its voice, in fact, executes it with more strength and depth; if it adds to the last strain the sound “fink,” which our bird-catchers translate by amen, it is of the highest value, no price will be taken for it.
There are a dozen varieties in all; but as they are not uncommon, and what are everywhere heard, they are less admired; they have even been given in contempt the name of plain.
One thing worth remarking is that the song of the chaffinch varies almost as much as the countries it inhabits. It is not the same in Thuringia as in the Hartz, and the taste of amateurs differs equally[43]. In Austria several named melodies are admired, but I have never heard them.
The chaffinch has so great a facility in learning, that it not only imitates perfectly the song of another chaffinch near which it has been placed from youth, but being hung near a nightingale or canary it learns several parts of their songs, and would no doubt give them completely if its larynx were so formed that it could render notes so long and sustained; in fine, a great difference in memory is observed in these birds, as well as in all others of the singing species. Some require six months to learn an air that others catch on first hearing, and can repeat almost immediately; these can scarcely retain one of the songs given above; those can imitate three, four, and, should you wish it, five different ones. There are also some that cannot give one song without a fault, and we find others that will add to it, perfect it, and embellish it.
One thing peculiar to chaffinches is the necessity of teaching them their song every year, and this in the manner proper for them, during the four or five weeks this exercise lasts. They first utter a murmur, or weak warbling, to which they add at first, in an under voice, one or two, and afterwards several syllables of their song; they are then said to record. A chaffinch that takes only a week or fortnight to repeat this lesson for fully bringing out its voice, is reckoned among the geniuses of its species. It is known that other birds whose power of singing is confined to a particular season, also warble feebly, and mingle with their warbling some foreign notes, especially harsh and confused sounds; but none produce sounds so peculiar, and that have so little relation to their own song. If we pay a little attention, however, we shall find that this exercise is intended less to awaken the memory than to render the throat, stiffened by a tolerably long state of inaction, more pliant, and to bring back its natural flexibility.
Wild chaffinches, on their return in spring, do not delay to record; those in the house soon learn, but they are obliged to exercise themselves for nearly two months before they can execute their song to perfection. The singing season does not generally extend beyond June, but young chaffinches brought up in a room prolong it to October, and sometimes later.
Some amateurs of the song, rather than friends of the bird, to procure the pleasure of hearing it night and day in all its strength, employ a very cruel and inhuman contrivance. They first place the cage in a very obscure place, and accustom the poor little creature to find its food in the dark; they then blind it, either by destroying the pupils of the eyes with a red hot iron wire, or by passing it over the edges of the eyelids, unite and paste them completely together.
Others shut up these poor mutilated creatures in a cool place, almost without air, during the summer, in order that when in autumn they are brought to the window, and breathe the fresh air, they may express their joy by their lively and repeated song. What can we think of the heart and morals of people who for a slight amusement thus enjoy the sufferings of a sensitive being that is unfortunately in their power?