292 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



eight records: "There are two types of song, the first a rhythmical 

 alternation of a phrase of two or three notes, with a single higher- 

 pitched note. This song goes on for some time, with indefinite length, 

 and therefore may be considered a long-continued song, like songs of 

 the mockingbirds and vireos. The first phrase is quite musical, the 

 notes rising a little in pitch. The single note of higher pitch is rather 



squeaky in quality. The whole song sounds like tolalee eek 



tolalee eek, etc. This song is exceedingly even and rhythmic, 



the pauses between phrases being just twice as long as the phrases, 

 and in my timed records a phrase and the pause following occupy 

 from four-fifths to one full second. 



"The second type of song consists of a rather rapid repetition, two 

 or three times, of a 3-note phrase, rising in pitch. For one such song 

 I wrote, in the field, the sound of the phrases as kawicklee kawicklee. 

 This is often repeated at intervals, but less rhythmically than the 

 first song. In one case the bird called a short kick kick kick between 

 the songs. 



"The pitch of rusty blackbird songs varies from A ' ' to D " ". 

 The high squeak in the first type of song is usually pitched on C " " 

 or D " ", the highest note of the piano or just above it, while the 

 other phrases may begin anywhere from two tones to an octave lower. 



"Singing on the spring migration is to be heard in Connecticut in 

 March or April. My average date for the first song heard is March 

 19 and for the last April 16. The earliest song heard was on March 2, 

 1930, and the latest May 2, 1939. Three times, in my experience, I 

 have heard rusty blackbirds sing in the fall: October 13, 1935; October 

 31, 1937; and October 12, 1945. 



"Call notes I have heard are a short kick, not so loud as the chack 

 of the redwing, and a rattle like turururo." 



Francis H. Allen has sent me the following study: "The chuck note 

 of this species, as I hear it, is rougher than that of the redwing, 

 though much less rough than that of the grackle, as well as higher 

 pitched than the latter. 



"On April 17, 1938, in West Roxbury, Mass., I took rather careful 

 notes on the song of the rusty blackbird. I watched one for a long 

 time at close range. It sang pretty constantly in a willow over a 

 brook and used the two phrases I have been familiar with, but not 

 always in regular alternation as is commonly the case. The more 

 familiar phrase I syllabify as unsslter-ee. This phrase would be 

 repeated over and over, but frequently a phrase with the final ee on 

 a lower pitch would be interpolated. This latter phrase was never 

 repeated until at least one of the former had intervened. It was al- 

 ways followed immediately by the phrase first mentioned, with a 

 shorter interval than between the repetitions of that phrase or be- 



