Notes from Field and Study 



205 



Mr. Jacot puts it, "singing in his sleep." 

 In the few instances of spring, I think it 

 is very likely that chill subdues the song, 

 but the autumn whisper, I feel sure, is the 

 voice of poetic melancholy. If the joy of 

 spring, of mating and nesting, makes the 

 bird burst into irrepressible and glorious 

 melody, why should not the memories of 

 these departed joys, in the fall, produce a 

 subdued song of pensive reminiscence? 



For myself, I have no doubt of it. 

 Animals certainly have memories and 

 good ones — that is scientific, and I do not 

 consider it unscientific to assert that the 

 bird has the spirit and feeling of a poet. 

 I believe that Arthur Jacot's Planesticus 

 really was "dreaming of his south- 

 ern home." 



Doubtless other emotions or troubles 

 beside memories of departed summer 

 joys may make individual birds sing low 

 or sadly. Many birds, when singing, if 

 they find themselves observed, check 

 and soften their songs; but this is embar- 

 rassment or caution, and very different 

 from the true reverie-whisper, which is 

 not merely a low song, but clearly the 

 performance of a lonely bird for his own 

 secret comforting, or to express a mood of 

 tender melancholy. — J. William Lloyd, 

 Westfield, N. J. 



[We venture to believe that Mr. Lloyd 

 attributes to birds emotions which are 

 more human than bird-like. Song is 

 primarily a secondary sexual character, 

 and its full manifestation is closely asso- 

 ciated with and, in a large measure 

 dependent on, certain physiological devel- 

 opments incident to the nesting-season. 



With one-brooded birds song wanes, 

 as, with the advance of the season, the 

 mating period is succeeded by family 

 cares, which arouse new activities on the 

 part of the parents. With two- or three- 

 brooded birds a renewal of song accom- 

 panies the preparations for a second 

 family, and the song season is corres- 

 pondingly prolonged. 



That full-voiced singing should be 

 resumed in the fall, when the true func- 

 tion of song does not exist and the con- 



ditions which stimulate it are wanting, 

 is, of course, not to be expected; but that 

 the faint songs sometimes heard at this 

 season voice a poetic melancholy on the 

 part of the singer is, we fear, a poetic 

 conception. — -Ed.] 



A Few Interesting Records from 

 Chicago, 111., and Vicinity 



.\lthough not all of the birds here noted 

 are rare, they are not of usual occurrence 

 here. They were all seen during the 

 spring and fall migrations of 1Q14, in 

 Jackson Park, Chicago, and in the 

 Calumet River Region, which is hardly 

 more than a mile from the city limits. 



Ruddy Duck. — April 15. Jackson 

 Park. A rather rare migrant. One male 

 seen in the waters of the Yacht Harbor. 

 It was observed very closely, and was 

 extremely tame. At the distance of 

 twenty-five feet, the bird paid no atten- 

 tion to us whatsoever. It seemed to be 

 feeding on minnows, which were very 

 abundant in the Harbor. It was seen 

 again on April 18. 



Sandhill Crane. — May 2. Calumet 

 Region. An exceedingly rare migrant at 

 the present time. Four birds seen in the 

 morning. They flew directly overhead, 

 close enough to the ground to distinguish 

 the coloring readily. They were posi- 

 tively identified, not only by their mark- 

 ings, but by their manner of flight. The 

 four flew in perfect order. At about five- 

 thirty in the afternoon of the same day, 

 Mr. Walter Goldy observed one Crane 

 standing on the ground in the middle of 

 a marshy prairie about an eighth of a 

 mile from the place where we had been 

 standing when the birds flew over us. It 

 flew when he approached within about 

 two hundred yards of it. 



Barred Owl. — -November 27. Calu- 

 met Region. A rare permanent resident. 

 One bird flushed from a bare branch of a 

 tree in the thickest part of the marsh. 

 It circled about over us, and alighted 

 some distance off. Following it, we found 

 and started it four times, each time 

 getting a fine view of it. 



