BACHMAN'S SPARROW 965 



also took coarse corn meal, cornbrcad, particles of cracked corn in ordinary poul- 

 try feed, and "cracklings" left from the "trying-out" of lard. 



Both birds fed at the small shelf at the same time, and once they had come, 

 manifested little fear. They would sometimes remain for periods of five minutes 

 or more, feeding both on the low shelf and on the ground where particles of food 

 had been scattered. * * * We did not see them at the shelf very early in the 

 morning or late in the evening, the times when singing was most in evidence. 



Evidently this sparrow gives off an emanation or scent that the 

 keen senses of hunting dogs can detect. Many a hunter has had 

 occasion to swear at his dog for having come to a "false point" at a 

 "d — d ground sparrow." However, this is not a peculiarity of the 

 Bachman's sparrow, for I have known dogs to point Henslow's and 

 grasshopper sparrows and perhaps other ground sparrows that occur 

 in the winter habitat of the bobwhite. 



Voice. — Of all the observed activities of the Bachman's sparrow, 

 the song easily ranks first. Writers compare its sweetness and ethereal 

 quality to the famous song of the Hermit thrush (Hylocichla guttata) 

 and some even claim superiority for the sparrow. 



First, technical description follows. Aretas A. Saunders (1951) 

 writes that the song "consists of a series of phrases, sung one after 

 another in varied order, with pauses between them, so that the whole 

 performance may be considered one long-continued song. 



"Each phrase consists of a long, sweet note, followed by a trill or 

 series of rapid notes on a different pitch. The pitch intervals between 

 the long notes and the trills are quite perfect, being minor or major 

 thirds, fourths, fifths, or even octaves. 



"Each individual sings from five to twelve different phrases, aver- 

 aging about seven. The long note introducing each phrase and the 

 change in pitch from one phrase to another suggest the singing of the 

 Hermit Thrush." 



R. M. Strong (1918) records that "the duration of the song, which 

 was very variable, was about two or three seconds. Usually, the song 

 started with a single long note followed by a group of short notes in 

 a tempo so fast that we could not be sure of our count. So far as we 

 could determine, the bird had seven to twelve notes in this group, 

 usually about ten. As a rule, they \\'ere of essentially uniform pitch, 

 but not of the same pitch as the long opening note. The pitch was 

 sometimes lower than that of the first note and sometimes higher. A 

 few performances had two or three opening notes not so long as the 

 usual single one. On one occasion, the song was repeated or rather 

 one song followed another with no interruption or pause, both being 

 a little shorter than usual." 



Many writers have set down transliterations of the song (an example 

 is theeeeee-tkut, lid, lut, lut), but all these are meaningless to one who 

 has never heard it and grossly inadequate to anyone familiar with its 



