1382 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 3 



before nest building begins. Tan-striped females were not heard 

 singing in the field, but Thorn eycroft reports that, in a sample of 

 hand-raised birds in the laboratory, three tan-striped females sang 

 occasionally, but not so much as white-striped females. Lowther 

 observed the responses to recorded songs by females of both types, 

 which had been sexed by cloacal protuberance and color banded. He 

 found that all of 33 white-striped females responded by singing, but 

 none of 37 tan-striped females sang. Songs of females were of the 

 patterns already described, but the pitch of the notes tended to waver 

 and the songs were often cut short. Territorial males responded less 

 strongly to a single recording of a female's song than to recorded 

 songs of males. 



White-throated sparrows usually sing from coniferous trees. While 

 studying territorial behavior in Algonquin, Maire Lainevool (unpub- 

 lished data) noted that each male sang mainly from two to four song 

 posts, usually 20 to 40 feet above ground in the outer branches of a 

 white spruce. White pines were used occasionally, but birches and 

 aspens seemed to be avoided. A bird might give a few songs from 

 other places, but often sang up to 50 times in rapid succession from a 

 regular song post. Birds occasionally sang from a stump or small 

 tree, but were never observed singing on the ground. However, 

 Knight (1908) states that "the singer perches in the bushes or on the 

 ground." During migration Falls has heard songs that seemed to 

 originate on or near the ground. 



A white-throat may sing in a variety of positions but usually perches 

 on a branch with its back and tail in line and at an angle of about 45 

 degrees from the horizontal. When singing loudly, the bird throws its 

 head back and its tail quivers noticeably in the rhythm of the song. 



Early in the breeding season the white-throated sparrow may be 

 heard singing at any time of the day or night, though much less 

 frequently at night than during the day. Lowther noted that a bird 

 in New Brunswick sang two or three times an hour when the moon 

 was full but only three or four times a night when the sky was overcast. 



J. B. Falls counted songs in 5-minute periods during the day, once 

 a week from mid-May to the end of August 1955. From May 14th 

 until June 25th, white-throats began to sing steadily about 3:30 a.m., 

 E.S.T. They were often the first passerines to be heard. The num- 

 ber of songs increased to a maximum about 4:00 a.m. and then de- 

 creased. A second peak of singing sometimes occurred about 6:30 

 a.m. after which singing was much less frequent. These peaks 

 resulted mainly from more birds singing rather than from a shortening 

 of the intervals between the songs of individual birds, which were 

 usually about 15 seconds. Birds sang occasionally in the afternoon, 

 and a short burst of singing about 8:00 p.m. was followed by a rapid 



