EASTERN MEADOWLARK 71 



The peak of singing activity, when the most beautiful songs may 

 be heard, occurs during the first part of the breeding season, prior 

 to incubation. During incubation there is a distinct lull in singing 

 which lasts until the return of sexual activities in preparation for the 

 second brood. Another lull occurs during the rearing of the second 

 brood and lasts until fall, when singing is again renewed. In sections 

 of the country where the meadowlark is represented by individuals 

 during all seasons, its characteristic territory song may be heard 

 throughout the year, even during the winter months. 



The versatile meadowlark has also a flight song, a truly ecstatic 

 performance. Prefacing the flight song with a few notes from a 

 perch, it flies swiftly upward, sometimes spirally into the air. It 

 vibrates its wings rapidly and utters penetrating and chattering 

 notes in rapid concert not unlike that of the bobolink. After flying 

 more or less in a circle, it slowly descends to the ground. This song 

 too is variable but is very different and not at all suggestive of the 

 ordinary song. 



The songs of the eastern and western meadowlark have frequently 

 been compared. Albert Brand (1938) who has made a study of vibra- 

 tion frequencies of passerine bird song, found that for the eastern 

 meadowlark the highest note had 6,025, the lowest 3,150, and the 

 approximate mean 4,400 vibrations per second. Those of the western 

 meadowlark are much lower in pitch — 3,475 for the highest, 1,475 

 for the lowest, and 3,475 for the approximate mean. 



When the meadowlark is alarmed or excited it nervously flits and 

 twitches its tail, exposing the white tail feathers. This behavior 

 is accompanied by a sharp nasal call note, which changes to a rolling 

 chatter followed by a plaintive but pleasing w T histle. G. B. Saunders 

 (MS., see p. 56) describes the call notes of the meadowlark in detail, 

 as follows: 



The day-old nestling first voices his calls for food with a faint tseep, tssep, seep, 

 seep or tsp, tsp. As he gains strength this utternace is a lisping sweet, sweet, sweet. 

 By the seventh or eighth day the note becomes a bysyllabic tscheep, tscheep, 

 tscheep or tschip', tschip'. All of these notes are of the same general type. When 

 out of the nest, the juvenile's call is a loud peeping tseup' , tseup' or sweet, sweet, 

 similar to the weet, weet notes of the adults. 



The adult call notes may be expressed phonetically as weet, weet, weet. Those of 

 the female are usually softer and more modulated than those of the male. There 

 is an infinite variation in the expression of these notes. Other conversational 

 calls of the adults are the low pitched and modified alarm notes dzert, dzert and 

 the tet-tet-tet-tet notes of the chatter. The female often joins them, i. e., dzert, 

 tet-tet-tet-tet-tet-tet in answering the male's song. 



The common alarm chatter, dzert-tet-let-tet-tet, seems to be a modification of the 

 call notes just mentioned. The speeding up due to excitement gives the notes 

 a much harsher quality. The notes dzert-dzert are usually given when a pre- 

 liminary alarm is uttered. Another note fairly common during the breeding 



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