VOL. XIV. NO. 10. 



ALBION, N. Y., OCTOBER, 1897. Whole No. 137 



Bird Lists and Bird Songs. 



This article does nut refer to regular 

 lists of birds, the result of years of study 

 iu a locality, or of Ihe coupilation of 

 State lists. laforniatinn is desired as 

 to how many species of birds you have 

 seen in a day in the region where you 

 have observed. How many kinds of 

 birds did you ever see (fully identified) 

 in one day's trip in forest and tield, on 

 lake and stream? 



The writer is one who has kept lists 

 of the bii'ds seen on his trips, that is, 

 important outings, for the last twenty 

 years. The fewest species I ever re- 

 corded in summer was a list of sixteen 

 taken on an eight mile ride on a warm 

 August day and when the birds were 

 silent, and mainly under cover. My 

 average has been about forty species 

 for a half day's outing and sixty for all 

 day if I took an early start. I have 

 never recorded fewer than tifty species 

 when I have begun recording in early 

 morning until noon, and 1 have noted 

 down over fifty from three to six a. m. 

 in a good locality. It is a common 

 thing for me to note 70 to 80 species of 

 birds in a good long cross country 

 tramp where I have the advantage x)f 

 observing the migrating hosts, and as 

 well the marsh and shore birds, and the 

 city and country yard birds too. 



In starting out, particularly at about 

 three a. m. it requires a rapid pen to 

 keep up with the concert and if the edge 

 of a woods is visited it is not rare to re- 

 cord thirty to forty species within five 

 minutes, and a score of these will be 

 crowded into a space of as many sec- 

 onds, when the pencil is half busy. I 

 have many times recorded the species 

 by their notes at early hours and have 

 found that they do not vary much as to 

 precedence in singing in a locality, 



though great variation exists in dift'er- 

 eut sections. 



Of course an observer has to be famil- 

 iar with all the notes of the different 

 birds that are encountered. I know 

 the notes by heart of about 146 species, 

 and am rarely if ever in error as to iden- 

 tity of either calls or songs. An ob- 

 server of this kind of listing must also 

 be able to tell a bird in flight at some 

 distance. Many ob-ervers use an opera 

 glass in their searches, and I believe 

 this a good practice if one is to study a 

 nesting bird, but for an active bird the 

 glass is idle. My senses are perfect and 

 I can see, hear and record ten species 

 while the opera glass faddist is trying 

 to focus on one bird. 



I have recorded thirteen species on a 

 tramp in January, including three 

 Woodpeckers, Owl, Hawk, R. T. Diver, 

 Grouse, Crow, two Sparrows, Creeper, 

 Horned Lark and Redpoll. My list 

 shows 38 recorded one day in March. 

 In May, 1879 I listed 88 species in an all 

 day's trip from 4 a m. to 7 p.m. in Kent 

 and Ottawa Counties, which included a 

 24 mile drive with varied conditions, 

 soil, etc., and a run in pinery and hard- 

 wood. This is my best and largest list; 

 but it can be beaten. I am satisfied 

 that I can find and identify 100 species 

 of birds between three a. m. and the 

 time for the evening song of the Whip- 

 poor-will by driving about a devious 

 route which embraces lakes, rivers, 

 marshes, city, country fields, uplands 

 and lowlands, oak and timbered lands, 

 and never leave my seat in the carriage. 

 To accomplish this it would require a 

 forty mile drive. Of these 100 species I 

 would readily identify 70 or 75 by the 

 notes alone; the others by sight, as the 

 Hawks, Swallows, etc. 



In some localities where birds are 

 few as to species, it is diOicult to record 



