WESTERN HENSLOWS SPARROW 785 



heard and described. TheJIee is the lowest, loudest, and fourth note 

 in the song, while the sic is actually two notes, the fifth and sixth, the 

 fifth being slightly higher in pitch than the sixth. 



In addition to this characteristic song which the male gives from 

 singing perches atop a weed or stalk of grass, Jouy (1881) described a 

 six-noted flight song, "sis-r-r-rit-srit-srit," which Sutton (1928a) 

 thought Jouy may have attributed to the wrong species, as it is an 

 excellent rendition of the flight song of the grasshopper sparrow, and 

 in his studies of Henslow's sparrow Sutton "never once heard the 

 birds utter this song," Nor does Hyde (1939) mention hearing it. 

 However, R. R. Graber tells me he has heard Henslow's sparrow give 

 this flight song in Illinois. 



H3^de (1939) describes what he terms the "caU of intimacy," 

 heard only during the height of the breeding season, as a series of 

 intense, high-pitched, sibilant, descending whistles. It may be given 

 by birds of either sex in situations of high emotional intensity, as 

 during courtship, combat, or when warning off an intruding male. 

 Hyde continues: 



"The hunger call of the young is a nasal whistle, 'kee,' pitched like 

 the monosyllabic 'pee' of the Wood Pewee, but less sharp. The usual 

 alarm note is a sharp 'tsip' similar to that of the Chipping and Savan- 

 nah Sparrows. A higher pitched, more penetrating *tsip' is used as a 

 warning when a hawk appears." 



George M. Sutton has wi'itten me of a variety of calls given by 

 juveniles he kept in captivity. He decribes the food caU of the 

 young as "a high, clear yeee-eee," a call given by the young to parent 

 birds as "reee," a call given when caught in the hand as a loud "jeer" 

 or "djecr," and a "lonely" call as a "thin, very high note, not exactly 

 a cheep," which is hard to hear. He heard weU-fed captives singing 

 "little whisper songs" 11 days after leaving the nest, at an age of 

 about 20 days. 



The birds are in song when they arrive on the breeding grounds. 

 Their singing increases in vigor and frequency during the courtship 

 period. After the young hatch it decreases noticeably, presumably 

 because the males are then busy helping feed the young. A second 

 period of less intensive singing in late July and early August is 

 terminated when the adults start undergoing their postnuptial molt. 

 They are then heard to sing no more, though they may remain on the 

 breeding grounds into October. 



Song begins at dawn and sometimes continues all night. One male 

 Hyde (1939) watched closely for 529 minutes in early July while his 

 mate was incubating spent 80 of them in song. He found that the 

 average interval between individual songs during singing periods 

 increased from 4.19 seconds on June 17 to 8.7 seconds on August 9. 



