WOE, s:| Song Birds. 119 
tected its song except in April. The plain-crested titmouse ( Parus 
inornatus) also sings during April as well as throughout the two 
succeeding months, but its song proper, which is a simple lay, is 
much less common than its unmusical call note. The bicolored 
blackbird (Agelaius gubernator) is another April singer. Its note, 
though a trifle monotonous, is a very pleasing flute-like strain, 
which may be represented by the syllables, ‘‘ Twid-dle did-dle did- 
dle did-dle,’ rapidly repeated. Vigors’s wren ( Thryothorus be- 
wickit spilurus ) begins singing during March and continues through- 
out April. He has a great variety of notes and can make a sur- 
prising amount of noise for so small a bird, but his music does not 
compare with the merry, rattling song of Parkman’s wren ( 77roglo- 
dytes aedon parkmanii), which begins singing in March and con- 
tinues in full song throughout April and May. 
At some time during the month of April nearly all our sum- 
mer singers proper begin to sing. These are the Western lark 
finch ( Condestes grammicus strigatus), warbling vireo ( Vireo gil- 
vus), Western chipping sparrow (.Spizella socialis arizone ), \azuli 
bunting (Passerina amena), summer warbler ( Dendroica estiva 5 fe 
black - headed grosbeak (Hadia melanocephala), Bullock's oriole 
(Icterus bullocki), and russet - backed thrush ( 7urdus ustulatus ). 
All of these birds are in full song in May and June, and are heard 
more or less in July. The thrush, which begins a little later, sings 
in August, but it is but a remnant of his divine summer song. A 
few of the spring singers have an autumn revival of song. Besides 
the wren tit and’ Samuel’s song sparrow, which are in song con- 
stantly, the autumn singers are the Western meadow lark, house 
finch, green-backed goldfinch, Gambel’s white - crowned sparrow, 
and Parkman’s wren. There are a few species sometimes heard in 
song about the bay which have been omitted from this list, owing to 
lack of notes. The California thrasher (Harporhynchus redivivus) 
doubtless sings about the southern part of the bay, where it breeds, 
but I have never heard its song about here. The pileolated war- 
“bier (Sylvania pusilla pileolata) sings occasionally during migra- 
tions, especially in the spring, and some of the other warblers may 
sing at the same time. The present list does not pretend to include 
any species that are not resident at some time of the year in this 
vicinity. | 
The following table indicates the months in which each species — 
