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



gets the rhythm of the song. If he says the words dick-dick sisisis 

 to this rhythm he has a good impression of what the song is Hke. 



"There are many variations, however. I have 19 records collected 

 in various locahties, from southern Illinois, Oklahoma, and north to 

 South Dakota and Minnesota. In some locahties the first part of 

 the song is higher pitched than the last. In others it is lower. In 

 one Minnesota record the two parts are on the same pitch. 



"While two notes for the first part and three for the second are the 

 commonest forms, some records from Minnesota and South Dakota 

 have only one note for the first and four for the last; and one record 

 from lUinois has three notes for each part. A number of Oklahoma 

 records have the first notes rapidly slurred, so that they sound like 

 clip or twait or taweet and in one case, slm'red downward into tleeup. 

 The notes of the second part vary from sisisis to zayzayzay or tsitsitsit. 

 From Missouri I have one record, of three first notes only, and another 

 of four sisses only. 



"The pitch of these songs varies considerably from F" to B"', 

 2]i tones more than an octave. Songs are usually about 1.4 seconds 

 in length, and vary little, but when more than the ordinary five 

 notes are used they are longer by about a fifth of a second for each 

 extra note. 



"A harsh caU-note I recorded as Ka-kakakakakakakaka, all on the 

 same pitch, which was B". A call of a female bird I wrote as gzzzzt, 

 and found it on E"." 



The dickcissel begins singing as soon as it arrives in the spring; 

 indeed, the arrival of the male newcomer is usually announced by 

 its loud characteristic call. During the nesting season the song can 

 be heard at nearly all times of the day, but it is by no means the 

 first of the bird voices heard in the morning. During the early 

 hours while waiting in my blind for the coming of dawn, the weu'd 

 call of the pheasants, the booming of the prairie hens, the cooing of 

 the mourning doves, the whistled bobwhite calls, and even the sweet 

 notes of the song and vesper sparrows were heard long before the 

 dickcissel added his voice to the chorus. As the day wore on and 

 the heat increased the first voices were silenced one by one, but the 

 dickcissel kept up his singing with an undiminished earnestness. 

 Even at midday, when the almost unbearable waves of heat that 

 rose from the fields drove most birds to cover, the song of the dick- 

 cissel was still heard. His earnestness and persistence are traits we 

 are compelled to admire. 



The songs of the dickcissel follow in such rapid succession and 

 with such regularity that records of the number of calls per minute 

 during different times of the day are interesting. For this purpose 

 a male was selected whose mate was brooding her young in a nest 



