MISSISSIPPI SONG SPARROW 1519 



greatest number of songs in one hour was 325, and in one day 2,305 

 from a bird 8 or 9 years old. 



Female song sparrows occasionally sing early in the season before 

 nesting begins; the song is given from an elevation and is short, simple, 

 and unmusical. The most energetic singers were also zealous in 

 chasing male neighbors. 



There are 5 chief stages in the development of song in the young 

 bird: continuous warbling, advanced warbling with some short songs, 

 predominantly short songs, songs practically as in adult but with 

 repertoire undetermined, songs as in adult with repertoire fixed. 



This species, where each male has a quota of songs peculiar to him- 

 self, but where there are occasional duplications in a community, 

 offers an opportunity to test the matter of inheritance or learning of 

 song with banded birds. The possession of similar songs wa> no proof 

 of close relationship between the singers, as neither brothers, fathers 

 and sons, nor grandfathers and grandsons had similar songs, while 

 birds known to be unrelated occasionally had similar songs. With 

 two hand-raised brothers (melodia) from Massachusetts exposed only 

 to records of songs of English birds, the form, length, and timing of 

 their songs were typical of the species, but the quality was atypical and 

 may have been suggested by the recorded songs. The following year, 

 a nestling euphonia hatched 600 miles from the hatching site of the 

 two brothers, heard one of them sing a small amount in the fall but 

 heard no other singing; in December this euphonia burst into song with 

 all of the 6 songs he had heard and with nothing else. It is evident that 

 the pattern is innate, but that quality may be imitated. Particular 

 songs may be improvised, or they may be adopted from some other 

 song sparrow. 



Enemies. — The song sparrow, like other small passerines, suffers from 

 a multitude of adverse factors: weather; predators, native and intro- 

 duced; the brood parasite, the cowbird; and man with his destruction 

 of habitat, his inventions — -windows, rat traps, automobiles, light- 

 houses, ceilometers at airports — shooting by his offspring in mistake 

 for "English sparrows." The introduced predators — cat, rat, and dog — 

 appeared to be more destructive than native predators — snakes, 

 birds, and mammals. On Interpont about 26 percent of the song 

 sparrow nests found were parasitized by the cowbird in 1930 and 1931, 

 58 percent of the early nests in 1932, 36 percent in 1933 and 69 to 78 

 percent during the next 3 years. From to 5 song sparrows were 

 raised in 28 nests along with 1 cowbird, from to 2 song sparrows along 

 with 2 cowbirds. Sixty-six successful nonparasitized nests raised an 

 average of 3.4 song sparrows, while 28 successful parasitized nests 

 raised an average of 2.4 song sparrows. So each cowbird appears to 

 have been raised at the expense of one song sparrow. 



