EASTERN MEADOWLARK 73 



lire short songs accurately with a stopwatch. The time factor of 

 greater interest is the perfect rhythm of the notes and the great num- 

 ber of variations in time arrangement that, with the variations in 

 pitch, go to make the great number of different songs that this species 

 possesses. 



"Not only does the meadowlark, as a species, sing a great variety 

 of songs, but each individual has many variations. I once recorded 

 53 different songs from one individual in less than an hour, and re- 

 corded altogether 96 different songs of birds singing in that location 

 in that season. 



"Consonant sounds are not prominent in meadowlark songs. In 

 some songs notes are linked together with a liquid consonant sound, 

 like the letter I that occurs in about 10 percent of the songs I have 

 recorded. Another consonant sound, which occurs at the beginning 

 of certain notes, most commonly at the beginning of downward slurs, 

 is sibilant and sounds like the letters ts, making a slur sound like 

 'tseeyah', or something similar. The sound is rather faint however. 

 I have recorded it in less than 5 percent of the songs, but it may be 

 commoner than this indicates, for it is not easily audible from more 

 distant singers. 



"In early spring, usually late March and early April, the meadow- 

 lark frequently sings two different songs in alternation, usually with 

 a pause of about one second between them. I have eight records of 

 these alternated songs, all different. In most of them one song ends 

 on a high-pitched note and thejD thereon a low pitch, so that they 

 sound something like a question and an answer, and form a pleasing 

 musical combination. All my records but one, recorded at Cross 

 Lake, N. Y., in July, are dated between March 7 and April 11. 



"In addition to this form of song, the meadowlark has a flight song, 

 ver}^ different in character, that is rather rarely heard. In a good 

 many years I have not heard it at all, whereas in others I have heard 

 it several times, most commonly in late April. The performance 

 begins from a perch, the bird calling at intervals on a rather harsh, 

 nasal, downward slurred note. After several of these notes the bird 

 rises into the air and flies across the meadow singing a song made up 

 of groups of 4 or 5 notes, separated by short pauses. These notes are 

 fricative and not especially musical, nor are they so loud as the 

 common song. Such a song takes 10 to 12 seconds from the beginning 

 notes on the perch until the bird is silent. 



"I have heard songs of the meadowlark in every month of the year. 

 The regular period of singing, however, begins in March and lasts 

 until late August. Songs in January are rare, and in 32 years of 

 records I have heard the song in that month only 4 times. In Febru- 

 ary there is often quite a bit of singing, and in 16 of these years the first 



