HOODED WARBLER 621 



in and out of its showy tail feathers, making a striking display of 

 the white areas, a directive rather than a concealing action. Referring 

 to this, Francis H. Allen writes to me: "The constant opening and 

 shutting of the hooded warbler's tail, showing the areas of white, is ex- 

 traordinary. Sometimes the bird switches its whole body to right 

 or left, and sometimes the tail is jetted up and down slightly, but 

 the opening and shutting is constant and very rapid. It is a graceful 

 bird, and the tail action is as easy as the flickering of a flame." 



Voice. — Aretas A. Saunders contributes the following study of the 

 song of this warbler : "The song of the hooded warbler is one of the 

 loudest of the warbler songs, and clearest in musical quality. It is 

 short, consisting of 5 to 11 rather rapid notes, averaging 7. A typical 

 song begins with two or three 2-note phrases or single notes, and ends 

 with two longer, strongly accented notes, the first high in pitch and the 

 second low ; tawit taioit tawit tee too. 



"In 25 of my 38 records the last two notes are the highest and 

 lowest pitches of the song. In 26 records these two notes are simple 

 and distinct; in 7 records they are connected by a slur, teeyoo. In 

 3 records the last note is a downward slur, so that the ending is tee 

 toyo; while in 2 records the last note is highest of the song, the ending 

 being tay tee. The first notes are regular 2-note phrases in 21 records 

 and single notes in 9, while the remaining 8 records are quite irregular. 



"Pitch of the song varies from D'" to E flat"". Individual songs 

 have a range of pitch from one and a half to four tones, the average 

 being about two and a half tones. Songs vary from 1 to 2% seconds, 

 mainly according to the number of notes they contain. 



"The birds sing on spring migration and from arrival on the breed- 

 ing grounds till July. The average date of the last song heard in 

 12 seasons in Allegany State Park, N. Y., is July 16; the earliest 

 July 8, 1930, and the latest July 24, 1938. But the bird is rather 

 uncommon and local there, and could not be heard daily, so that the 

 average may be somewhat later than this. The song is occasionally 

 resumed in late August and September." 



Albert R. Brand (1938) found that the number of vibrations per 

 second in the song of the hooded warbler varied from 5,850 on the 

 highest notes to 2,925 on the lowest notes, with an approximate mean 

 cf 4,000. 



"Wayne (1910) says that, in South Carolina, the song period is 

 portracted for more than 5 months; and Grimes (1935) hears the 

 males singing "throughout the sultry days of July and August and 

 until late September." 



Dr. Chapman (1907) writes: "The song of the Hooded Warbler 

 is distinguished by an easy, sliding gracefulness. To my ear the 

 words you must come to the woods or you wonH see me, uttered quickly. 



