332 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the same spot, or moved it to a new location, the trail was learned 

 after one trial." 



Voice. — The chickadee is a voluble little bird ; when two or more 

 are together they are full of conversation, exchanging bright, cheery 

 remarks back and forth. The notes show great variety and extend over 

 a wide range in pitch. Some of the minor ones are very high indeed, 

 closely approaching the insectlike voice of the golden-crowned kinglet 

 and the brown creeper; one, the familiar "phoebe" note, an "ellin 

 whistle" Langille (1884) calls it, is a pure, prolonged tone so low that 

 we c.an imitate it by whistling; others, lower, but high-pitched, remind 

 us of short words or phrases given in a babylike voice. 



The simplest of the notes mentioned above is uttered rather listlessly, 

 thus differing from the kinglet's energetic delivery ; it is sibilant but 

 given with a hint of a lisp, suggested by the letters sth. It is a faint 

 note, but it may serve to report one bird's whereabouts to another not 

 far away. This note, emphasized and prolonged into stkeep, is often 

 given in flight, or when a bird is slightly disturbed. It may be doubled. 

 By further emphasis and repetition into a sharp, rapid series, si-si-si-si, 

 it serves as a warning or alarm note; we hear this form when a hawk 

 comes near. 



Of the "phoebe" whistle, Aretas A. Saunders (MS.) says: "There are 

 two notes of equal length, the second tone lower in pitch than the 

 first. The quality is that of a clear, sweet whistle. The pitch is com- 

 monly B-A or A-G, in the highest octave of the piano. Frequently 

 the second note has a slight waver in the middle, as if the bird sang 

 fee-bey ee instead of fee-bee. Rarely a bird drops a tone and a half 

 between the two notes." Not infrequently two birds will whistle the 

 "phoebe" note antiphonally, the second bird picking up the pitch at the 

 end of the first bird's song and then dropping a tone lower, i.e., B-A, 

 and the response A-G, over and over again. 



It is a matter for conjecture whether the phoebe note is a true song 

 of the chickadee. It is heard oftenest in spring and early in summer, 

 but we hear it also throughout the winter, sometimes in cold, inclement 

 weather, and it is uttered by both sexes, according to Dr. Jonathan 

 Dwight (1897). Perhaps the deciding point in determining a true song 

 is the manner in which the bird delivers its notes rather than their 

 beauty to our ears. With this in mind, an observation by Bradford 

 Torrey (1885) seems significant. He says: 



For several mornings in succession I was greeted on waking by the trisyllabic 

 minor whistle of a chickadee, who piped again and again not far from my window. 

 There could be little doubt about its being the bird that I knew to be excavating 

 a building site in one of our apple-trees; but I was usually not out-of-doors imtil 



