96 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part i 



the song, but there is nothing definite or regular about the position 

 of these loud notes." 



He comments that songs are short during May and June and possibly 

 the first half of July. The short songs vary from 6 to 13 notes, averag- 

 ing QYi. In July normal songs are 14 notes, but sometimes prolonged 

 to 19. "The season of song lasts from the bird's arrival in spring to 

 about the middle of August, or somewhat later than this in certain 

 years." 



The pitch, or number of vibrations per second, as studied on one 

 bird by Albert R. Brand (1938) ranged between 8875 and 3250. 

 The approximate mean was 5700. 



Mrs. Speirs writes that at South Bass Island, Ohio, on July 11, 1951, 

 an indigo bunting commenced singing at 4:43 a.m. and sang 15 songs a 

 minute for four consecutive minutes, plus one incomplete song. She 

 counted 240 songs in 34 minutes including the foregoing. The bird 

 sang throughout the entire day to a greater or less extent until 7:38 

 p.m. 



T. S. Roberts (1932) watched a male that sang the "livelong day" 

 with exact regularity from the top of a flagpole. The "song was just 

 four seconds in length with intervals of six seconds. During June 

 and July he began singing very regularly at 4 :00 A.M. and continued 

 with surprisingly little interruption until 8:00 P.M. — about the time 

 the Whip-poor-will began calling. Allowing four hours for rest and 

 feeding, there remained twelve hours for singing, which, at the rate 

 of six songs a minute, gave 4,320 songs a day, and for the two months, 

 disregarding late May and early August, 263,520 times that he tuned 

 his little pipe in the sixty-one days!" He describes the usual song 

 as "sweet-toned but rather characterless * * * delivered in a lazy, 

 indolent fashion. It has more snap early in the season, but, as the 

 summer progresses, it becomes more and more colorless and uninter- 

 esting." Again, he says, "Occasionally the male indulges in a flight 

 song, in which the notes are more rapid and gushing." 



W. E. C. Todd (1940) states that the bird "is not at its best on 

 arrival; but the longer it stays, the longer its song grows, and the 

 hotter the weather, the oftener it sings. From a few bars in May and 

 June, the song develops during July and August into a lengthy refrain 

 with many variations." He considers the song "not particularly 

 melodious." 



Numerous observers (Chapman, 1932; Todd, 1940; Fitch, 1958) 

 make special mention of the fact that characteristically indigo buntings 

 continue to sing into August after most other bu'ds have stopped. 

 Indeed, some individuals continue to sing sporadicaUy into September. 

 Quantitative data of Leopold and Eynon (1961) indicate that as the 

 breeding season progresses, the daily song period becomes markedly 



