184 THE WILSON BU LLETIN— December, 1921 



rules are far more comparable for different years and lo- 

 calities, than those iii wliich other means of transporta- 

 tion are used. Skipping about from one faunula or life- 

 zone to another by rapid transit ma^- yield longer lists of 

 species, but it introduces also elements which make for 

 lessened reliability of records and puts standardization, 

 and therefore comparability of lists, out of the question. 

 Witlial it is hopeless, whatever the equipment, to see all of 

 the birds present in any region at a given time. 



If there is one point more than another in these rules 

 for making a bird list, that the writer wouhl empliasize, it 

 is seeing (or in case of doubt, collecting) tlie birds. Ke- 

 cording species on tlie basis of calls and songs alone cer- 

 tainly is unsafe. Few have ears keen and practiced enough 

 to discriminate all of the multitude of avian chirpings 

 and carollings and fewer still have an auditory memory 

 reliable enough to name notes heard only a few times each 

 year- or perhaps in several seasons. 



Tlie risks taken in making sound records may l>e thor- 

 oughly illustrated without seeking exam])les outside the 

 local avifauna. First Ave have several couples or other 

 groups of birds that habitually utter one or more very sim- 

 ilar notes. Among gToii])S having similar aii<l easily con- 

 fused call -notes are the brown creejier and tlie kinglets; 

 tufted titmouse and chickadee: and tlie robin ("seep" note) 

 and cedarliird. The blue ja^^ has a note that is an almost 

 exact du])licate of the most common utterance of the 

 red-shouldered hawk. Similarities among true songs are 

 marked in the following groups : cardinal, Carolina wren 

 and tufted titmouse; junco, cliii)ping s]>arrow and pine 

 warbler; i)uri>le finch and warbling vireo; and so far as 

 fragmentary or typical songs are concerned the following 

 also mnst be named: Baltimore oriole and rose-breaste<l 

 grosbeak: and the redstart, yellow and chestnnf-si;le:l 

 wai-blers. 



Then there are the singers of medleys, as tlu^ catbir<l, 

 l)rown thrasher and mockingbird, detached ])hrases of 

 whose songs might be mistaken for those of varions other 

 species. Finally we have a number of actual, and some- 



