36 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



Island, only far more frequently. It is an everyday salutation there, as 

 much as to say, " Here I am, what do you want, eh?''' It is pitched a little 

 lower and modified to a tclup, wlien the birds are anxious about their nests, 

 and when the males are quarrelling, or paying court to the females, it 

 det^enerates into a rolling chatter. None of these notes are loud, and the 

 full song is not much to be proud of, musically considered ; and yet, com- 

 pared with that of the Savanna Sparrow, it is a more polislied and tuneful 

 effort. Those who know the song of this bird may gain some idea of that 

 of the Ipswich Sparrow when I say that the song oifrincefs is keyed a little 

 lower and linished up with more of a trill. Analyzed, it consists of three 

 parts, and usually occupies a short two seconds in its delivery. It begins 

 with two or tliree rapid, introductory notes, thin, high-pitched, and slightly 

 sibilant, occupying perhaps one quarter of the entire time ; these are 

 followed quickly b}^ a prolonged, still more sibilant, grasshopper-like lisp, 

 that consumes five eighths more of the time, and the song concludes, with- 

 out pause, in a trill (keyed very like the note of the little tree-toad, Hyla 

 pickeringii), on the iirst part of which considerable emphasis is placed, 

 the end fading out with interrogative inflection. Even in calm weather, 

 the song is quite inaudible at a couple of hundred j'ards, but the trill, brief 

 as it is, is heard further than any other part, and may be the only sound 

 distinguishable. As you draw nearer, the sibilant portion is heard, while 

 the introductory notes may not be audible until you arrive within a very 

 few yards. A graphical representation of the song would be something as 

 follows, the spaces between the vertical lines representing roughly quarters 

 of a second : ts'\p- \ Uip- \ t\ \ c'- \ 5- \ e- \ e- | pr-re'-e-dh. The finishing 

 trill is usually swung out with a vim, unlike the weaker, higher-pitched 

 tinkle of A. s. savanna, and contrasts pleasantly with the thin, high notes 

 and lisp that precede it. It is in this part of the song that individual singers 

 vary most, differing in quality, force and length of tone not only from 

 their neighbors' efforts, but sometimes from their own. On the whole, 

 there are few variations. Sometimes the number of introductory notes is 

 increased or diminished, and sometimes the trill is little more than a musi- 

 cal ripple and like an overflow of the sibilant note. This sad little chant 

 is repeated several times in the minute, but rarely for more than a few 

 minutes at a time, when the singer either seeks a new perch or devotes him- 

 self for an indefinite period to the quest for food. They sing at irregular inter- 

 vals, the favorite hour being at dusk, when j'ou may often hear round about 

 you as many as five or six, each pouring forth his mournful trill whicli seems 

 in perfect keeping with the sombre surroundings. They are also more 

 musically inclined in the earlj' morning hours. They sang regardless of the 

 fog, to which they are so well accustomed, nor did they, as is the wont 



