760 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part 2 



of searchers to find the nest disappears after the young are several 

 days old, and he will then join his mate in their defense. This 

 is corroborated by Gordon Smith, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, who 

 noted at a nest observed July 22, 1961: "Nest holding three fledged 

 young found in grass 8-12 inches high. Both adults present, chipping 

 excitedly." 



While brooding the young in hot weather, the parent may start to 

 pant and then lift the back feathers away from the body, apparently to 

 cool itself, starting with the tail coverts and progressing up the back 

 to the nape and crown. This gives the head a spectacular crested 

 appearance, in sharp contrast to the usual low profile. After a few 

 moments the bird settles the feathers into place again by reversing the 

 action, the crown first resuming its normal outline. 



Voice. — Audubon and his companions, on first hearing the notes 

 of this little bunting, thought they were produced by marsh wi'ens, 

 and Coues (1873) compared the song to that of the Savannah sparrow. 

 In a later volume he (1903) wrote: "Song peculiar, of two or three 

 tinkling syllables and a trUl, like 'zip-zip-zip-zr-r-r-r'." 



Actually, of aU ^the so-caUed "grass [sparrows," Baird's spaiTow 

 has, to my ears, by far the most pleasing song — much superior to the 

 sibilant gasp of the grasshopper sparrow, to the nearly inaudible hiss 

 of Le Conte's sparrow, to the broken sigh of the Savannah sparrow, 

 or to the guttural ejaculation of Nelson's sharp- tailed sparrow, and 

 infinitely preferable to the hiccups Henslow's sparrow uses for a 

 song. Though neither loud nor impressive, the refrain is stUl a 

 pleasant combination of opening notes and ending trUl. 



The song is in two distinct parts, each of which may vary somewhat 

 in duration and composition between individual birds, and no two 

 listeners hear it exactly alike. Though each male has his own idea 

 of just how the song should be given, the "normal" presentation is 

 three or four opening notes followed by a trill of five or six "beats," 

 thus: Dee-dee-dee l-l-l-l-l. The last part of the song, the trill, is a 

 half to a full tone lower in pitch. 



The fii'st part of the melody, a repetition of the one note, has a 

 breathless, tinkly timbre. The second part is a pulsing trill, almost a 

 warble, and it has a clear, sweet quality that makes it thoroughly en- 

 trancing. There is no perceptible break between the two sections of 

 the refrain, other than a connectmg half-note, and the entire outpom'- 

 ing is one entity, despite the sudden lowering in pitch. Under favor- 

 able conditions the song can be heard 250 yards away, with the ending 

 trill carrying even farther. 



When a male has fallen into a pattern of territorial song, he gives 

 his refrain six to eight times a minute. Morning and evening find him 



