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A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 

 DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of the Audubon Societies 



Vol. II 



June, 1900 



No. 3 



Song-Birds in Europe and America* 



BY ROBERT RIDGWAY 



Curator of Birds, I'nited States National Museum 



T has been repeatedly stated by writers who have had 

 the opportunity of making the comparison, that the 

 United States is very deficient in song-birds as com- 

 pared with Europe — the British Islands in particular. 

 One writer f even goes as far as to say that "it may 

 be safely asserted that in the midland counties of 

 England the Skylark alone, even in the month of March, sings more 

 songs within the hearing of mankind than do all the songsters of 

 the eastern United States" — which, of course, is an exaggeration. 

 The same writer says: "It is, no doubt, very patriotic to prove that 

 the woods and fields of North America are as vocal with bird song 

 as those of England. The attempt has been made, but it is only 

 necessary to cross the Atlantic, stay a month in the British Islands, 

 and then return, taking frequent country walks on both sides of the 

 water, to become convinced that the other side has all the advantage 

 in quantity of bird song. Let us grant that the quality is equal — 

 though it is difficult to understand where in America the peer of the 

 Nightingale can be found — let us grant that the United States 

 possesses a list of song-birds larger than that of the British Islands 

 — all this does not prove that the quantity of bird song is greater. 

 In England bird voices are everywhere. The Chaffinch is more 

 abundant than the Sparrow save in the centers of cities, and his 

 cheery notes can be heard at all times ; the Robin Redbreast is 

 common in suburb and village, and is not chary of his voice ; and as 

 for the Skylark — it is hard to go anywhere in the country without 



* Parts of this article were published in the Audubon Magazine, Vol. I, 1SS7, page 127, but so 

 much has been added and eliminated that in its present form it is essentially a different paper. 

 tW. H. Lockington, in Tlie Churclinnui. 



