SNOW BUNTING 1667 



a long continuous song." He writes several versions : "ditree-ditreedipi- 

 tree-ditree-ditree" an d ' 'deeiti-dee-ditreeditreeditree.' ' 



To Sutton and myself on Baffin Island "Songs seemed invariably 

 to include a repetition of certain polysyllabic phrases. Ordinary 

 songs (i.e., songs not given in flight) sounded like (1) sir plee si-chee 

 whee-cher; sir plee si-chi whee-cher and (2) chor-i-bee-chee, chor-i-bee- 

 chee, chip-i-deer. Flight songs were more complex." Tinbergen 

 speaks of locally restricted song "dialects" among the Greenland 

 buntings which, he points out, the young males must either inherit 

 or learn in the nest. 



The species' call notes have been variously written as chee, tee, djjj, 

 a loud, high-pitched tweet, a rather rippling twitter tirrirrirripp, and 

 a rippling yet rather hard stirrrp, among others. According to Tin- 

 bergen they are of two main types, a long monosyllabic peee, and a 

 trembling note that Salomonsen transcribes as pirrr or pirrr-rit. 

 Given on the ground or in flight, these function as communication 

 signals between individuals or contact notes between members of 

 the flock. 



Males on territory have a tlireatening note Tinbergen writes pEEE, 

 which they direct at trespassers of both sexes, but whether the males 

 discriminate between sexes in such cases is uncertain. Tinbergen 

 also notes that the actual attack on one male by another is often 

 preceded by a special shrill, trembling cherr. 



Most peculiar from singing males newly on territory is a long, 

 high note that Tinbergen says "resembled more or less the screaming 

 of a Swift, though it was much softer, and which I therefore will call 

 the 'Swift' call. It was often performed two or three times in rapid 

 succession and was often accompanied by trembling of the wings and 

 panting. Both Swift call and wing trembling sometimes occurred 

 separately. * * * this behavior must be considered as an outlet for 

 unsatisfied sexual impulse." 



On Baffin Island when a male brought food to an incubating female 

 on the nest, as he disappeared into the nest crevice Sutton and I 

 "heard odd, rather angry-sounding cries of churr, churr." We de- 

 scribed the food cry of young buntings after leaving the nest crevice 

 as "zhip or zhi-dip." Salomonsen thinks the fledgling's food call 

 sounds like pitt-pitt. 



Witherby et al. add: "Anxiety-note a musical, plaintive, piping 

 'tiiii.' " Nichols (in Pearson et al., 1936) says the buntings call 

 beez-beez when disturbed. Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959) state: "The 

 alarm note is a hard, rattling chir-r-r." Tinbergen observed that 

 whenever a predator appeared the birds "uttered a special call, a 

 monosyllabic, soft weee," which he heard elicited by the appearance 



