CLAY-COLORED SPARROW 1201 



Voice. — The territorial song, given by the male only, is unique in 

 quality. The notes are simple, hard, fairly loud, leisurely, high- 

 pitched buzzes, which may be translated as "zee-zee-zee" or "bzzz- 

 bzzz-bzzz." A territorial song generally consists of one to six 

 notes. The commonest are the two- and three-note songs. Songs 

 vary more than is generally realized. Those given in close succession 

 may vary in the number of notes per song. Single notes may vary in 

 length and volume. Buzzes are longer when they are fewer in number 

 per song. Songs, regardless of the number of notes per song, average 

 7 to 9 per minute. L. M. Terrill (1952) heard a male sing 71 times 

 successively, 8 to 9 songs per minute, in early July, 1951, in Lanark 

 County, Ontario; foiu* evenly-spaced buzzes, less commonly three, 

 composed the usual song. 



Aretas A. Saunders (MS.) states that pitch varies rather slightly 

 from G'" to C"", a range of only four tones or Yi an octave in the 

 3rd and 4th octaves above middle C on the piano. Single songs range 

 from 13^ to 2 tones, but change of pitch diu"ing a song is uncommon. 

 Songs vary in length from 1}^ to 3% seconds, with the average about 

 2 seconds. 



D. J. Borror (1961a) analyzed, with a Vibralyzer sound spectro- 

 graph, seven recordings of clay-colors from Michigan and Ontario. 

 He gives the pitch range (in cycles/second) as 2,500-8,500 and states 

 that buzzes vary in length up to about one second. Most songs are 

 1.5 to 2 seconds in length. The buzzes consist of a series of similar 

 phrases uttered 42 to 146 per second; each phrase is of two to three 

 very abruptly slurred notes. 



Saunders (MS.) cites two variations: a single rather long buzz 

 that swells and then dies away, and a single-note song that fades 

 abruptly in the middle, sounding from a distance like two notes. 

 G. C Kuyava, in a letter, describes two variations in Minnesota: (1) 

 one bird, songs of five to seven notes, last notes extremely thin, almost 

 inaudible; (2) one bird sang one note in low tone and one note in high 

 tone alternately for seven notes and then a thin, intermediate tone 

 \\ith each note about twice as long as either high- or low- tone notes. 



At Neudorf, Saskatchewan, in 1959, John Lane heard a song that 

 seemed to have a noticeable, distinct ting effect at the end of each zee. 

 At Wapello, Saskatchewan, on May 13, 1960, he heard two males in 

 adjoining fields answer each other song for song, the south bird with 

 a two-buzz song, the north bird's song varying from two to four 

 buzzes. The latter dropped to the ground and began scratching in 

 the grass, still answering the south bird, and shortened his reply to a 

 single buzz as he ate a black beetle. 



During nesting season males greet an invader of the habitat with 

 loud, warning notes that well up on all sides as other males take up 



