THE WILSON QUARTERLY. 19 



this is so, I do not know unless the birds are glad that 

 "grub time" has come again after the long night's rest. 

 Often when the thermometer is down to zero, one may 

 hear them singing away as if their little throats would 

 split. I am quite positive that this bird does not sing on 

 the ground, but when musically inclined mounts to some 

 position above "terra firma. " Most of the notes, for that 

 matter all of them, are clear, bell-like, and decided. A bird 

 singing in winter will be noticed, the song highly ap- 

 preciated, and if any sweet notes prevail will be noted by 

 the listener more so than when the woods, fields, and yards 

 are full of songbirds. The Tree Sparrow's songs, of which 

 it has a number, have but a slight rising and falling from 

 the beginning to the end. Some of the notes, particularly, 

 will be distinguished from the rest by their liquid, bell-like 

 trembling. The first song in clear silvery notes is as fol- 

 lows : ''tee-dee-tee-dee-tee-dee-dee." The last three notes 

 uttered in much quicker time than the first four, which are 

 especially clear, while on the last three there is a slight 

 falling inflection, just enough to make it all the more beau- 

 tiful. Some songster sometimes includes these notes in the 

 first song which, of all the writer has heard, are the most 

 beautiful, tender, and clear ; " te-a-de-a-te-a-de-a,''' with the 

 longest pause on the "a," where the quivering bell-tone 

 becomes the most noticeable. These last notes are often 

 uttered devoid of any other notes, making what we will 

 call the second song, with a short but very pleasing charac- 

 ter. Third song : " chee-cJiee-a-chee-chee-che-a.''' Fourth 

 song: "'tee-dee-che-a-die-a.'" The notes already described 

 are not entirely restricted to songs, but are often uttered 

 separately as if used for alarm or calls. 



Again, it has a warbling chatter, used a great deal of the 

 time when feeding, as if conversing with each other. The 

 chatter is uttered with a full voice but not extremely so ; 

 the notes, from their round and steady flow, seem to run 

 together; that is, from their character, one note is hardly 

 distinguishable from the others. One might say the chat- 

 ter is a reproduction of some of the song-notes usually 



