LINCOLN'S SPARROW 1453 



ootle ootle weetle weetle eeteeteetyayfoo." He illustrates these with his 

 distinctive pictographs and continues: "The song of Lincoln's Sparrow 

 is entirely distinctive, and not particularly like that of a Song Sparrow 

 or other bird. It consists in part of notes sung with a true musician's 

 trill, varying up and down a half tone in pitch, with liquid Z-like 

 consonants between the notes. Notes that are not of the trill type 

 are inclined to be sibilant. The voice is sweet and clearly musical, 

 and the song often suggests the House Wren or the Purple Finch. 

 It is decidedly more pleasing than a House Wren's song, however." 



In a personal note to Mr. Bent, Saunders adds the following more 

 detailed analysis: "Songs consist of 13 to 16 notes each, though 

 the character of the song is such that one cannot be too sure of sepa- 

 rating the notes and counting them exactly. Songs vary from 2.4 

 to 2.8 seconds in length, and from C#'" to C"" in pitch. The pitch 

 interval is from 3% to 5 tones." 



Roland C. Clement wrote us of his Lincoln's sparrow observations 

 in the Goose Bay region of Newfoundland Labrador in 1944: "On 

 August 16 I 'squeaked up' eight birds in a tall stand of streamside 

 alders, finding them very curious. 'The song,' I wrote in my journal, 

 'is soft but sweet and varied.' My own crude literal rendition of 

 it was 'phreu-u-deer-e-e, teuu teu tree,' the two overscored notes 

 being almost bell-like in richness of tone." 



Almost all accounts of this species stress its song. This is owing 

 no doubt to the apparent belief by Lincoln's sparrows that little birds 

 should be heard but not seen. The Lincoln's sparrows we have 

 observed singing have done little to bolster our faith in the advertising 

 function of song perches. Usually the singer at Dorion, Ont., was 

 well hidden in the cover of tall grasses or low shrubs in the marsh 

 bordering the stream along which our observations were made. 

 Occasionally one was found, after a considerable search, singing 

 from a perch part way up a sheltering evergreen. When we did find 

 one singing from an overhead wire or dead tree top or other conspicous 

 perch, it was cause for special comment in our notes, Audubon not- 

 withstanding. In the choice of its singing perch it resembles the 

 swamp sparrow, but differs from its other congeneric species, the 

 song sparrow. 



We transcribed the song of a Lincoln's sparrow heard at Dorion 

 May 15, 1955, in our field notes as "churr-churr-churr-wee-wee-wee- 

 wah; quality like house wren or purple finch." This appears to be 

 the most typical of northern Ontario songs, although we have heard 

 several variations. W. W. H. Gunn was good enough to provide 

 us with tape recordings of a variety of the songs of the Lincoln's 

 sparrow, from which we selected the song most like this typical one. 

 From this with the cooperation of Bruce Falls and the Roj r al Canadian 



