1202 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 2 



the cry. The warning song varies from a hard-sounding, low-pitched 

 "bzztt-bzztt-bzztt" to a less common, thinner, higher-pitched "beez- 

 beez-beez"; either may be repeated rapidly without pause up to 13 

 times at a rate greater than one note per second. The warning call 

 fades out behind the intruder as he advances. Warning notes differ 

 between individuals in inflection, intensity, and duration. 



Recordings in Sounds of Nature, volume 6, by Donald J. Borror 

 and WilUam W. H. Gunn, and A Field Guide to Bird Songs by Peter 

 P. Kellogg and Arthur A. Allen present both the territorial song and 

 the warning notes of the clay-colored sparrow. The narrators, how- 

 ever, do not point out the difference in the nature of the two sounds. 



Males generally sing intermittently throughout the day. Songs 

 have been heard from 1:45 a.m. to midnight. A male may use 

 several perches and generally remains in one place until disturbed. 

 The perch may be a low tree or shrub, or a weed, fence, or occasionally 

 a telephone pole or wire. Perches average 1 to 7 feet in height, 

 though they may range to 20 feet. The male stands erect and tilts 

 his head at an angle of 30° to almost 90° above the horizontal. Be- 

 tween songs he often spreads his tail and both wings, and preens and 

 shakes himself. Mr. and Mrs. John Lane report that on a quiet 

 evening in Manitoba the song is clearly audible 150 yards away, 

 above the songs of western meadowlarks, redwinged blackbirds, and 

 vesper. Savannah, and song sparrows. 



In May, before establishing territory, males sing sporadically. 

 Singing reaches its height during the first half of June. On hot after- 

 noons in June and July the clay-color is one of the few birds that sings 

 on the Canadian prairies. After mid-June singing is less persistent 

 until sexual activity wanes at the end of the breeding season, when 

 both territorial songs and warning calls cease for the most part. A 

 late song date on the breeding grounds at Brandon, Manitoba, is 

 August 6. Singing is irregular at other times, as early as March 31 

 or as late as October 15 in the fall, when juveniles may be making 

 their first attempts at song. G. M. Sutton (1951b) heard birds in 

 song near Monterrey, Mexico, on a warm, sunny January day. 



Both parents and young utter low tsip-tsip calls. Parents give 

 them at mating time and after the eggs hatch, even while carrying 

 food. A sKght change in the tsip of a parent will cause sudden 

 abandonment of the nest by all the yoimg. The fledglings first utter 

 the tsip call while leaving the nest. When hidden among vegetation 

 the young continually sound the note, which appears to be a hunger 

 caU, an alarm call, and a "keep in touch" call. Both adults occasion- 

 ally reply with a tsip, and will call rapidly and loudly when alarmed, 

 changing their note to a sharp chip. Later, in the fall, the tsip 

 becomes a flocking call. 



