104 



THE OSPREY. 



DEC. 4, "96 

 AT 4:50. 



SUNSET 



3:55 



.58 



4:(i2 



.04 



.05 



.05 ',4 



.101.. 

 .11 



.11 '4 



.12 



.12% 

 .12^ 



13 

 .131/2 



14 

 .14 '4 



.15 

 .15!^ 

 .15^ 



.16 

 .1054 



.17 

 .17>4 



.18''2 



.21 



.23 '4 



.23'/2 



.25 



.26 



.27 



.29 

 .30 



.31 

 .31 '4 



.33 



.35 

 .36 



.36!/j 



.37!4 

 .38 

 .39 

 .40 



5:0' 



Notes. 



100 

 4 

 15 

 21 



Joined by sinple birds 



'til there were about 20. 



Six of them settled in 



tules; others ffo away. 



Three or four notes. 



First trill. 



Another sing-le trill. 



Trill. 



Flifrht noise loud. 



Tiill. 



Trill. 



Roug-hly estimated — • 



came m three lots. 

 Strag-g-ling- birds— trill. 



Two trills. 



Trill. 



Flig-ht noise— two trills. 



Four or 5 trill togrether. 



Compact bunch — trills. 

 Strag-g-ling-. 

 Continuous trills. 



" " weaker. 



and a lone Flicker flew by. A few Titlarks {Anihiis) 



fluttered over with their sweet and timid faint notes, but 



not a Blackbird in sight or hearing-. 



I made a visit to the tules into which they had been 



seen to plunge on a previous day, but not a Blackbird. I 



sat down on some tules and teased the Song Sparrows, I 



disturbed the Ducks and exposed myself to the inquiring 



gaze of the Coots and was getting very weary when the 



sound of three interrogative notes told me the Blackbirds 



were there. Six birds went over and were soon joined by 



single birds until there were about twenty. This bunch 



left, but at two minutes of four o'clock six birds slowly 



settled in the tule roost. 



This was the beginning of the home coming. Four 



minutes later seventeen birds came over; two minutes 



more and there were eleven birds. From that on they came 



singly and in lots numbering up to thirty or fifty individ- 

 uals.' From 4:02 to 4:40 birds came pretty steadily, the 



bunches flying at intervals of from fifteen seconds to two 



or three minutes. The heaviest of the flight was from 

 4:09 to 4:13. During these four minutes I recorded nearly 

 two hundred passing birds. 



The greatest number arriving at any one time, esti- 

 mated at one hundred birds, was a bunch of three lots, 

 flying so near together, however, as to form nearly one 

 mass. 



The last lot (six birds) came at 4:53^^. Up to 5:07 no 

 more came and those in the roost were still trilling vigor- 

 ously. This they kept up for full half an hour after the 

 last bird came in. 



They stop their noise almost simultaneously and after 

 the trilling is over not a sound is heard save a few satis- 

 fied single notes as they settle for the night. 



Now a few words of explanation. I have given names 

 to the three kinds of noises which these birds made. 1. 

 Notes, by which I refer to the single syllables uttered 

 when in flight or when disturbed. These are usually to 

 be heard when the birds fly over, but if the flight be rapid 

 they are silent. 2. Trills, referring to the song, which 

 may be represented roughly by "cheer-r-r-r." This is the 

 characteristic Red-wing song. During the first quarter 

 of an hour of the flight but few of these songs are heard, 

 but the volume increases with numbers until there is a 

 frightful uproar. I got quite close to them and could 

 hear all kinds of strange voices such as one hears in a 

 clamorous water-fall. A gun shot or a visitor too near 

 the tules will shut them up at once. Then if you keep 

 very still they gradually begin again and inside of a minute or two the din is as 

 great as ever. 3. Flight noise, which is intended to indicate the rushing noise of 

 the wings meeting the air in rapid flight. This was only noticeable when birds 

 flew low and rapidly. 



It will be seen that I have recorded nearly 600 birds, and this is rather an under- 

 estimate. One point to my advantage was that they all came from one direction. 

 They evidently spend the day feeding in fields and marshes toward the bay. As far 

 as could be seen their flight was up the little gully, and laterally they did not cover 

 over one hundred yards. 



The flight is undulatory in short waves, the various individuals of a bunch do not 



Very noisy by this lime. 



There camestagrgrli'gr in 

 this order, 4, 2, 5, 1. 



A gun shot stops all 

 trillinff tor 30 seconds. 



Trills g'ain in streng'th. 



Trills stop for3sec'nds. 



Sun is wa3' below hill — 

 cool and shady. 



One with a few white 

 primaries in each wing. 



Noisy as ever. 



Flylowand very sw'ft'y. 

 Very noisy. 



I came away — birds still 

 trilling. 



