HARRIS' SPARROW 1265 



at an interval of a half-step to a major third higher, but sometimes 

 correspondingly lower * * *. In the spring this song is repeated 

 over and over * * * for minutes at a time," producing what Mrs. 

 Nice described above as "one continuous song." 



On the nesting grounds, Semple and Sutton (1932) describe the 

 summer song thus: 



At this season the males so frequently sang in a chorus that it was sometimes 

 difficult to separate a single song from the medley which sounded through the 

 woods. The song most frequently heard was a single, whistled note, tenuous, 

 fragile, a trifle quavering, and possessed of the plaintive character of the final 

 Peabody phrases of the White-throated Sparrow's lay. Sometimes this note was 

 repeated once, twice, even four or five times, the notes trailing into each other 

 uncertainly. Other songs were more elaborate, and consisted of two notes at one 

 pitch followed by two or three notes two steps higher, or two or three steps lower. 

 Often the notes struck were not quite in key, this frequently being responsible, 

 no doubt, for the minor effect the songs produced. The songs of several birds 

 were sometimes so strikingly identical in pitch that a distant song sounded 

 precisely like the echo of another song heard closer at hand. 



In the morning, usually between eight and ten o'clock, and in the late afternoon 

 or evening, when the weather was fine, all the birds sang together for long periods. 

 Sometimes, indeed the chorus continued practically all day long. During the 

 regular song periods the performers often gave their songs with such regularity 

 that two or three birds, singing at different pitches, sometimes produced simple 

 tunes which were repeated again and again, unless some disturbance caused one 

 of the singers to stop. One such tune, which the junior author heard and recog- 

 nized instantly as part of the theme of a familiar classical composition [the first 

 four measures of Schubert's Minuet from the Sonata in G, Opus 78, No. 3], was 

 produced by at least two and possibly three birds. It was repeated, almost 

 flawlessly, about twenty times. 



The remarkable feature of this performance is, of course, that, though produced 

 by two or three different birds, supposedly singing independently and at different 

 pitches (liked belled horses at the circus), it kept so nearly true to a recognizable 

 key note according to our diatonic scale. 



Since we hesitated to collect birds whose nests we hoped to find later, we did 

 not shoot any singing birds in an attempt to learn whether the female ever sings. 

 Many times, however, we gained the impression that mated birds were singing 

 to each other. One such case we noted on June 8. We were watching two birds 

 which we assumed to be mates and which were feeding in a tamarack; one of them 

 was smaller than the other, and the two seemed to be attached to each other. 

 Suddenly feeding stopped and both began to sing, one in a lower, gentler voice 

 than the other. 



Harris's Sparrow has another, louder, and very striking song which we heard 

 only occasionally. This song was so distinctly different from the usual whistle, 

 and so suggestive of songs of some of the other species of sparrows, that for some 

 time we could not place it. It began with a fine, swiftly descending, rather 

 tuneless whistle or squeal, and closed with a series of from three to six rough, 

 buzzing, drawled notes which decidedly resembled the usual song of the Clay- 

 colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida). We wrote the song down thus: Eeeeeeeeee, 

 zhee, zhee, zhee, zhee, zhee. We noticed that the bird usually gave this song from 

 a high perch and that, after it had sung, it dropped to the ground stealthily or 

 flew off hurriedly. 



