520 BULLETIN 2 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



away. Even at that distance tlie song was readily heard above a bril- 

 liant morning bird chorus" 



Huff (1929) writes: "The song of the Connecticut Warbler varies 

 with different individuals, and at times with the same individual. The 

 volume may be changed, and certain syllables may be changed or 

 omitted, but the quality of his tone is unique and practically invariable, 

 especially as regards two syllables, ''freecher^ always included in his 

 song. So characteristic is his voice that one having heard him may 

 identify him more quickly by his song than by sight. His voice is 

 sharp, piercing, penetrating, rather shrill yet pleasing, and is one that 

 I always associate w^ith the wild swampy wilderness where he sings." 



This warbler sings nearly as freely on the spring migration as on 

 its breeding grounds. Trautman (1940) says : "More than 80 per cent 

 of all identified birds were singing, and had it not been for the singers 

 the species would have been considered very rare rather than un- 

 common." 



In the fall it is usually silent except for its distinctive call notes. 

 Dr. Chapman (1907) calls this "a sharp, characteristic feehP Francis 

 H. Allen writes to me : "I have recorded an autumn note as a sharp 

 chip like the syllable witch; that is, it seems to have both a w and a 

 ch in it. It struck me as a distinctive note." Gerald Thayer wrote 

 to Dr. Chapman (1907) : "The only note I have ever heard from it is 

 a very quick, sharp call, with a clipped-short metallic ring, yliifik^ 

 easily remembered and differentiated among warbler chips." 



Dr. Tyler and Walter Faxon, two expert and careful observers, were 

 confident that they heard several Connecticut warblers singing on 

 September 25, 1910, in the swamp referred to below. Dr. Tyler has 

 sent me the following account of it : "When we entered the swamp our 

 attention was at once attracted by a bird song which was new to us ; 

 it came from the high trees deep in the swamp. My notes, speaking 

 out of this dim past, record that the song suggested to both of us, but 

 rather faintly, that of a parula warbler, but neither of us was satisfied 

 with our provisional diagnosis. 



"Later we heard the song repated many times from birds near at 

 hand, and we were impressed again by its novelty, but now by its 

 distinct dissimilarity from the parula's buzzing voice. The notes were 

 far too loud for a parula, too clear and full-voiced, but they had sug- 

 gested Compsothlypis to us because they were given with a sort of 

 rotary effect as opposed to a to-and-f ro rhythm. 



"The song — clear, ringing, and very loud — was made up of four 

 notes, all strongly emphasized, sounding like three, three, three, three, 

 pronounced in two or three syllables each. The pitch ran up the scale 

 slightly, and the quality suggested to both of us the mourning war- 

 bler's voice. On this notable morning Connecticut warblers were 



