128 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part i 



in song has been noted by others and was characteristic of the 

 individuals I watched near Santa Barbara. 



J. Grinnell (1912) recorded the intervals between songs during a 

 period of about 5 minutes. The intervals ranged from 9 to 18 seconds 

 and averaged 12.5 seconds with a majority of the intervals falling 

 between 11 and 13. 



A male that I observed on Apr. 28, 1953, when it was proclaiming 

 territory for the first time in this area, gave a total of 95 songs during 

 an 18-minute period from 6:56 a.m. to 7:14 a.m., or an average of 5.3 

 per minute. On April 29, 23 songs were recorded during a period of 

 9 minutes, or an average of 2.5 per minute, and on the 30th, there 

 were 10 songs during a 2-minute interval, or an average of 5 per minute. 

 The frequency of song probably decreases somewhat once a mate has 

 joined the male on his territory and nesting is under way. 



Singing does not decrease as much as in some species, however, 

 for this species has been reported as a persistent singer throughout 

 its breeding season. A male with a family out of the nest seen on 

 June 12, 1952, was recorded as singing eight times in 1 minute and 

 six times in another. W. A. Eliot (1923) describes it as repeating 

 its song by the hour during the nesting season. I. G. Wheelock 

 (1912) comments: "Long after the other birds, worn out by family 

 cares, have ceased their music, this blythe little 'blue boy' carols his 

 jolly roundelay from the top of a tall tree * * *." E. W. Nelson 

 (1875) states that they are commonly heard singing during July in 

 the vicinity of Fort Bridger, Utah; T. D. Burleigh (1923b) likewise 

 reports them as singing in July at Clark's Fort in northern Idaho, 

 and O. Widmann (1911) reports several males in full song at the 

 same time he saw fully grown young on July 15 at Fork in Estes 

 Park, Colo. A late date for song is August 16, 1920, in the Berkeley, 

 Cahf., area. 



The singing males are spaced out and each has a series of song 

 perches that are used in sequence in the fashion typical of birds 

 holding territory and using song as a pronouncement of this fact. 



The call note of this species has been variously described as a 

 sharp "quit" (L. E. Wyman and E. F. Burnell, 1925), "an emphatic 

 quit or sometimes chack" (F. M. Bailey, 1902), or sharp chips (J. K. 

 Jenson, 1923, and S. G. Jewett, Taylor, Shaw, and Aldrich, 1953). 

 This is given when the birds are alarmed by the intrusion of a potential 

 enemy. 



Other notes recorded by observers at the Hasting's Natural History 

 Reservation are a harsh buzzing note and a twitter given during a 

 territorial dispute, a brzeet note of the male which called the female 

 from the nest, and the wheet note of the fledglings. 



