Notes from Field and Study 



129 



back yard, I found that my Catbirds were 

 gone. — W. E. Gray, HopkinsviUc, Ky. 



A recent number of Bird-Lore con- 

 tained an article 'The Whisper Song of 

 the Catbird' in which the author asks if 

 others have had similar experiences in 

 hearing the whisper song of this species. 

 I have not heard the Catbird deliver such 

 a song, but the description therein given 

 fits very well the vocal performances of 

 the Brown Thrashers, as we hear them 

 almost every year. 



In my notes I find mention made of such 

 singing on seventeen days within six 

 years. The earliest date was that of 

 .\ugust II, the latest was September 2t,, 

 which was the last day a Brown Thrasher 

 was seen here that year (1907). For two 

 years the latest date for this singing was 

 September 21, after which the species was 

 seen only a few days. 



These almost inaudible songs are ren- 

 dered while the bird sits in the dense foli- 

 age of a snowball bush, not more then ten 

 or fifteen feet from the house; yet so low 

 is the singing, it frequently would escape 

 my defective hearing if my attention were 

 not called to it by my sister. 



Eight days out of the recorded seventeen 

 were in August. Sometimes the singing on 

 these August daj's was of the very low- 

 voiced type, but at other times it was quite 

 noticeably louder. In one of my notes an 

 estimate was made that the song lasted 

 fully five minutes. — Althea R. Sher- 

 man, National, Iowa. 



Mr. J. Wm. Lloyd has noticed the fall 

 'whisper song' of the Catbird. Perhaps 

 he and others would be interested to 

 know that the California Blue Jay whis- 

 pers a song which I have never heard him 

 sing aloud. Indeed, he is not famous as a 

 singer. But twice during the past fall 

 (September, 1914) I heard and saw him 

 whispering a real song, one that compares 

 favorably with those of the Black-headed 

 Grosbeak or the California Thrasher. — 

 Mrs. Amelia Sanborn Allen, Berkeley, 

 California. 



About thirteen years ago, I was living 

 at a country place, near Seattle, Wash- 

 ington, where much of the native forest 

 had been preserved. One afternoon, while 

 walking along a road through the timber, 

 I saw a Russet-backed Thrush sitting on 

 a 4imb of an alder tree about ten feet from 

 the ground, singing with full voice his 

 enchanting song. When he saw me, he 

 dropped his voice to a far, sweet murmur, 

 repeating the song over and over, watch- 

 ing me while I stood rooted to the spot. 

 Two young people approached, total 

 strangers to me. I spoke rather intensely: 

 "Stop, please, and look! listen to that 

 Thrush!" They obligingly stood still, 

 evidently impressed and exclaimed "How 

 beautiful!" Perhaps thinking there were 

 too many listeners, the bird flew awa3\ 



.\gain, and on this very morning, Feb. 

 10, 1915, 'our Woodpeckers' a pair of 

 Red-shafted Flickers, visited us at 2838 

 North Broadway, in Seattle, as they have 

 many times during the last two or three 

 years. I was awakened very early bj' a 

 resounding tattoo on the northwest 

 corner of the roof; fortissimo it was given, 

 alternated with a whispered vocal per- 

 formance; 'Yucka! Yucka! Yucka!' They 

 said very softl}', in marked contrast to 

 their usual ringing, ear-piercing call. 

 Quite often they rap loudly on the tin 

 coping on the balcony, making a tremen- 

 dous racket, but always whisper their 

 'song.'. — E. Inez Denny, Seattle, Wash- 

 ington. 



Prothonotary Warbler in Massachusetts 



Having read, in a recent issue of Bird- 

 Lore, of the appearance of the Prothono- 

 tary Warbler on May 24, at Hopkinton, 

 Mass., we would report, from records 

 kept, the appearance of this Warbler in 

 Amherst, on May 3, 191 2. 



The bird spent an entire day in a small 

 maple tree within twenty feet of the 

 house, so that we had many good views of 

 it, and the markings were easily dis- 

 tinguishable. Its song was high-pitched, 

 and the call was a metallic chink. 



