34 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part i 



notes of the eastern cardinal." As Merrill wrote to Mrs. Bailey 

 (1928), "in spring it is a veritable temptation to forsake the trodden 

 paths of duty and take to the open as it [the pyrrhuloxia] perches on 

 the top of a mesquite nearby and repeatedly calls queet, queet, queet — 

 queet, queet, queet — quee-u, quee-u. During the season of rearing the 

 young, a variety of calls are given, varying from the rattling cheek, 

 cheek, cheek, when molested, to soft family notes of a liquid, purring, 

 interrogative character." 



So far as I have observed, only the male sings. He may use 

 any elevated perch in the vicinity — electric poles and power lines 

 furnish excellent points of vantage. There are exceptions, of course; 

 once I saw a male singing vigorously on the ground. 



Peterson (1941) interprets the song as "a clear quink quink quink 

 quink quink, all on one note; also a slurred whistled what-cheer, what- 

 cheer, etc., thinner and shorter than Cardinal's song." 



To me this similarity to the cardinal's song is often so exasperating 

 that one is tempted to speculate upon which bu'd is mimicking the 

 other. Even the experts can be puzzled. Herbert Brandt (1951) 

 wrote of the Arizona race: "This bird's merry whistle is, in some of its 

 renditions, so much like some songs of the Cardinal that even Doctor 

 Oberholser, who is an expert song student, was unable always to de- 

 tect the difference. On one occasion we were sitting in the car listening 

 to a persistent cardinal-type, whipping whistle, whereupon I asked 

 the Doctor which bird it was, and he replied, 'A Cardinal, probably.' 

 Putting a field glass on the distant bird, however, proved it to be a 

 male Pyrrhuloxia in full voice." The same can be said of the com- 

 monest call-note, the explosive note of alarm that is heard every time 

 a bird is disturbed. Once, after a morning's study in the field, I 

 concluded that the pjrrrhuloxia uttered a sharp squick or stick, while 

 the cardinal emitted a more metallic tik. The extent of the alarm 

 can be gaged by the rapidity and number of these sounds. Often 

 three to five or more are fairly sputtered out as a bird takes flight. 

 Some days later when I had the opportunity to try out my conclusion 

 on an unseen bird, the pyrrhuloxia turned out to be a cardinal. 



Again Gould's (1961) careful work furnishes us ndth interesting 

 observations. He reports: 



Singing is important in the establishment and maintenance of territory in both 

 the Cardinal and the Pyrrhuloxia. Their songs are so similar that they are often 

 indistinguishable. The major difference in their songs Ues in the phrasing used 

 during one singing period. Individuals of both species are capable of a wide 

 variety of song types. In the Cardinal one type is used over and over during one 

 singing period, but the Pyrrhuloxia alternates different types. Although the 

 females of both species are capable of singing, the female Pyrrhuloxia is rarely 

 heard to do so. * * * 



