Mar. 1903.] On the Autumnal Songseason. 395 



long interval of silence, and heard at a certain date year after 

 year. Not to mention the singing migrants, var^-ing widely from 

 the Upland Plover to the Whitethroats, Solitary Vireos, Ruby- 

 crowned Kinglets, the following will serve as examples. Both 

 the Orioles sing in late August and earl}- September ; Field Spar- 

 rows in September, Vesper Sparrows into October, Fox Sparrows 

 into November ; the Warbling and the Red- eyed Vireos in Sep- 

 tember ; the Maryland Yellowthroat in September, and in the 

 same month the Catbird and the Brown Thrasher ; and more 

 rarely I have heard the Woodthrush also, though he sang only 

 the preludes without the flute-notes. I have never heard the 

 Flj'catchers sing again after their sunnner silence, nor the Tana- 

 gers, nor the Martins, nor man}- of the Warblers and Thrushes. 

 In each case, the song seems an accompaniment or precursor of 

 migration. The J unco's addition to his song, in April just before 

 he departs for the north, is parallel. I cannot presume to offer 

 an explanation. To me it seems several possible things ; memory 

 of the spring's journey bringing a repetition of the song ; or 

 rehearsal and education of the young birds, although it seems to 

 me difficult to prove that only the young birds sing ; or, as it has 

 been called, " false dawn " of sex, a mating without the nesting, 

 wdiich I have seen the Mourning Doves do ; or, perhaps fantasti- 

 cally, farewell to the land of the nests of northern summer. If it 

 is true that the Grouse will drum on the old courting log even in 

 October, a recognizably sentimental operation, none of the sug- 

 gestions is preposterous. Why birds sing is hardly to be explained 

 b}' anatomy. The general opinion of ornithologists seems to be 

 that song is an expression of pleasure, and that birds do not sing 

 in fear or sorrow. I have known a particularh^ gorgeous sunset 

 to waken the Woodthrushes in midsummer, and it seemed to me 

 not unlikeh' that the pleasure of the rich color sensation might 

 partly account for it. It is probable that the autumnal songseason 

 is a time of gayety and novelty, a recognition of old places, an 

 anticipation of new, together with some associated memor}- of the 

 choosing of the mates. The impression may be further explained 

 by the character of the song in autumn. 



It is always difficult to hear and know the autumnal song- 

 season, both because it is so much less in volume and continuity 

 than in spring, and because it is not like that of April full- 

 throated. The quality is changed, — if I were before a less formid- 

 able atidience, I should say .sea-changed. For it is as if the birds 

 were singing under water, underground. It is as if they sing 

 without opening their beaks ; which indeed the)^ seem sometimes 

 to do even in spring, for I ha\-e heard both the male and the 

 female Thrasher sing so in the nesting, each with the twig or 

 straw in mouth ; and I have never heard the Hermit Thrush in 

 spring migration sing in any other way. This last instance may 



