184 Bird -Lore 



whose ordinary song of teacher, teacher, teacher, is introduced by some wild 

 ecstatic notes that one would never guess were produced by the same bird. 

 The flight-song is given usually just at dusk, or after dark, and the singer often 

 mounts high above the trees during the performance. Some of the most im- 

 pressive moments that the writer has ever spent have been in the forest at 

 dusk when the silence was interrupted only by the bell-like cadence of an 

 occasional Hermit Thrush and the wild, ringing, ecstatic flight-song of an 

 Ovenbird. 



The singing of birds at night, by its very incongruity, always awakens our 

 interest. The European Nightingale has been lauded since ancient times 

 because of its nocturnal outbursts, but it is not alone in this habit. Aside from 

 the Owls and Whip-poor-wills, that one naturally expects to be active at night, 

 during the height of the mating season one may hear the song of almost any 

 bird ringing out on the night air as though the songster could not contain 

 himself. Yellow-breasted Chats are particularly noisy at night and, on the 

 marshes, the Wrens, the Rails, and the Gallinules seem to take on renewed 

 activity when darkness falls. Robins, Song Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, and 

 other familiar birds often cause our gardens to echo in the dead of night, and 

 the Mockingbird of our southern states is said to do its finest singing on 

 moonlit nights. 



Birds frequently become greatly attached to certain perches from which 

 they sing, the Robin to a certain gable, the Mockingbird to a certain chimney, 

 the Thrasher to a certain tree-top, etc. The accompanying photograph of a 

 Swamp Sparrow was secured by observing that the bird always came to a 

 certain reed in the marsh to sing. To our eyes it looked just like a thousand 

 other stalks, but the Sparrow had formed the habit of always singing from this 

 stalk and the presence of the camera did not deter it. The same might be said 

 of the photograph of the Wren. The Ruffed Grouse returns to the same log 

 to drum day after day and season after season, and Flickers and other Wood- 

 peckers often return to the same tin roof or other resounding surface, year 

 after year. 



The drumming of the Grouse and the tattoos of the Woodpeckers are not 

 what could be called songs, but they are substitutes for song and serve exactly 

 the same purpose. Another mechanical sound that takes the place of song is 

 the 'winnowing' of the Woodcock, a sound produced by the air rushing through 

 the outer primary feathers as the bird dashes toward earth on a zigzag course 

 from a great height. The three outer primaries are narrowed and stiffened for 

 this very purpose, and their vibration produces a weird but harmonious sound 

 when heard in the gathering dusk or after night has fallen. — A. A. Allen. 



QUESTIONS 



1. Why do birds sing? 



2. Do all birds sing, and what constitutes a true singing bird? 



3. Name five birds that are singing when they arrive at your locality in the spring. 



