180 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part i 



from year to year, but during the 1909 low the state's 56,000 square 

 miles supported more than a million dickcissels. They were about 

 equally abundant in southern and central Illinois, but north of about 

 latitude 42°, nearer then* northern limit of summer distribution, their 

 density dropped to about half as many per square mile. 



In the summer of 1909 the dickcissels were distributed by crops in 

 the following numbers per square mile: Meadow 81.2, waste and 

 fallow 34.4, oats 21.4, wheat and rye 19.7, pasture 12.4, and corn 

 5.2. This indicates, as would be expected, that the dickcissel is 

 preeminently a bird of open meadows, to which it is attracted not 

 only by the many grasshoppers and other insects that supply much 

 of its substenance, but also by the low dense vegetation that provides 

 the kind of nesting sites it prefers. Meadows with the densest growths 

 of clover and alfalfa, especially if they have a liberal sprinkling of 

 weeds and dewberry vines, are preferred to those of timothy and other 

 grasses. Though pastures present conditions similar to those of 

 certain meadows, their much lower population densities of only about 

 12 to the square mile are explained by the continual disturbance 

 created by the grazing stock. The waste and fallow areas, ranking 

 next to the meadows in numbers of dickcissels per square mUe, have 

 vegetation favorable for the birds and are the least disturbed by man. 

 There the plow and the devastating mower and binder never bring 

 the birds' home life to a sudden and disastrous ending. 



In the grain fields the dickcissel is present in numbers intermediate 

 between those of meadows and of pastures. The number found per 

 square mile in oats is practically the same as that in wheat and rye 

 fields. Of all the areas listed, the cornfields support the lowest 

 density, because they provide neither food nor favorable nesting sites. 

 Furthermore corn is cultivated most heavily during the early part of 

 the nesting season, which is certain to destroy any nests. The small 

 number of dickcissels found in cornfields, only five to the square mile, 

 was almost accidental. Other areas in which the dickcissel was 

 recorded, but in numbers too small to be important, were swamps, 

 gardens, shrubbery, orchards, and timberlands. 



Voice. — The song of the dickcissel is simple, yet, like many bird 

 notes, it is diflBcult to put into words. It has been written in as 

 many ways as there have been writers to describe it, so it seems need- 

 less to contribute another to the long list of versions, a few of which 

 are as follows: Wilson (1832) describes the song (under black-throated 

 bunting) as consisting "of five notes, or, more properly, of two notes; 

 the first repeated twice, and slowly, the second thrice, and rapidly, 

 resembling chip chip che cche che." Nuttall (in Chamberlain, 1891) 

 states: "With us their call is Hie 'tic — tsh§ tshe tsM tship, and Hship, 

 tship, tsM tshe tsh^ tsh^ tship." Elliott Coues interprets it as "Look! 



