118 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



at least, the latter part of the "bob-white" call of the quail. To 

 me it sounds like whoit-whoit-whoit^ or wlmit-huit, repeated sev- 

 eral times. It has also been written whip-whip-whi'p^ or whit-iohit- 

 whit, or whuir-whuree, or puree. The alarm note is a loud, less 

 musical ivheep, or queep, of great carrying power, audible at a long 

 distance. Both notes are emphatic and immediately attract attention. 

 Forbush (1927) mentions a very different loud note, queer-queer- 

 queer-queer^ as rendered by J. A. Farley. 



Francis H. Allen (1922) says that this flycatcher has what we must 

 call a genuine song: 



[This] is chiefly an early morniug performance, but may be heard, too, at 

 other times of the day. Like the kingbird's it is a long, indefinite song or 

 series of songs, but it has nothing of the hurried character of the former. 

 Indeed, it is one of the most leisurely songs I know, for there is a rest of two 

 seconds or more after each phrase. In its simplest form the song is a repeti- 

 tion of the phrase queedle over and over again indefinitely, but each alternate 

 queedle is of difiierent character from the one that immediately precedes it. 

 The first time I studied the song I found numbers 2, 4, 6, etc., to be about 

 a fifth on the musical scale higher than numbers 1, 3, 5, etc. ; or, rather, this 

 was true of the first syllable of each phrase — the quce. The die part was per- 

 haps a third lower than the quee in numbers 1, 3, 5, etc., and about an octave 

 lower in numbers 2, 4, 6, etc. To indicate the difference in pitch I am in the 

 habit of rendering the song coodle, queedle, coodle, queedle, coodle, queedle, etc. 

 The die part always being on the same pitch, the inflection of the alternate 

 queedles has the effect of a finality in discourse. I think the difference in 

 pitch between the ooodles and queedles is not always as great as a fifth, for, 

 not being a musician, sometimes I have had to listen rather intently to 

 detect it. 



Mr. Allen goes on to explain certain variations in the song in the 

 same paper, to which the reader is referred. And Mrs. Nice has 

 referred to it in three papers (1928, 1931a, and 1931b), in which 

 she treats mainly of the time at which she has heard the "morning 

 twilight song" at different places; most of the songs were heard 

 between 5:00 and 5:30 a. m., but once as early as 4:24 on June 11. 

 The songs were given at the rate of from 28 to 30 notes a minute. 

 "The length of these songs surprised me, one lasting 28 minutes and 

 two others more than 35" (1931b). 



Eugene P. Bicknell (1885) writes: "In July the voice of this bird 

 begins to fail, and a silent-period is nearly approached, if, indeed, 

 it be not actually reached, in trying summers. During this time 

 of semi-silence the usual utterance is a single note, which is often 

 faint, and with a mournful intonation as it sounds at slow intervals 

 among the high trees of the woods. Towards the end of August 

 there is noticeable on the part of the birds an attempt to regain their 

 earlier vocal prowess, but they soon return to the low note which 



