350 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



times higher and sometimes lower. I have comparatively few records 

 of the song of this species, however. Occasionally a bird sings three 

 clear whistled notes, the second and third each lower than the pre- 

 ceding one. 



"The season of singing is probably similar to that of the black-capped 1 

 chickadee, but I have no extended notes except for the spring of 1908, j 

 when I was in c.entral Alabama. Then I heard this species sing daily ! 

 from my arrival early in March till the end of April. In May I heard i 

 the song frequently, but not daily, and heard it once or twice early in 

 June. The other notes of this species are similar to those of the 

 blackcap, the chickadee call being rendered somewhat faster." 1 



The writer has noticed that the Carolina chickadee, when disturbed 

 on the nest, utters a peculiar note — an explosive little sound like a sneeze, j 

 My first experience with this note is described (1922) in part as follows: { 

 "Late in the afternoon of March 28, I tapped on the tree ; one of the j 

 birds was inside and gave a peculiar note, not a hiss such as Mr. , 

 Schorger heard, but more like a little sneeze. This was repeated every j 

 time I tapped. Several times the bird tapped on the interior of the j 

 cavity. Finally it put its head out of the hole and looked calmly at me i 

 as I stood about three feet away. I withdrew and it went back into the ' 

 hollow. No eggs had yet been laid." 1 



Dickey (MS.) describes the sounds as "hisses, serpent-like, and 

 feared by unsuspecting boys." Also, when examining young birds out 

 of the nest, "the parents darted close to my hat, hissed not unlike a 

 black snake, and vented a variety of buzzing and liquid outcries." 



The writer has never seen chic.kadees when they were engaged in 

 hissing, but Pickens (1928) has, and he describes the "defense demon- 

 stration" as follows : 



One of the most courage-taking sounds that I have encountered in my field 

 studies is the hiss of the copperhead snake (Agkistrodon mokasen). It lacks the , 

 animating interest we find in the ringing alarm of the rattlesnakes, and fills one! 

 with a kind of nausea. The reptile sounds as if it were inhaling a good part of 

 the surrounding atmosphere and then discharging it in one sudden, explosive puff. 

 There is nothing sedate and leisurely about it. Now the best imitation of that 

 sound that I have heard is the explosive hiss of the brooding Carolina Chickadee ■ 

 (Penthestes carolimnsis). * * * In preparing for the hiss, the bird, as seen from 

 above, appears to rise slightly on the legs as if to give a freer swing to the 

 movements of the body, while the head is thrown back over the shoulders at a 

 right angle, or even an acute angle. The attitude of the bird is one of tense 

 rigidity. Then, as if with a great effort, the bird nods the head strongly forward. 

 The whole body, with the wings and tail, seems affected. The tail moves, the 

 expanding wings shoot out sideways and strike the surrounding wood inside the 

 cavity, and as the head comes stiffly down the bird emits a strong hiss or pufF 

 strikingly like that of the copperhead. The head is brought down quite upon the 

 surface of the lining in front of the bird, and while the noise appears to be pro- 



