52 The Song of Dickcissell 



have missed the tliree Great Blue Herons which flew east, 

 high over our heads, when we were still aboiit a tnile and a 

 half from the river. Another peculiar fact is that I saw no 

 Grasshopper Sparrows or Vesper Sparrows during the day. 

 However, the latter bird does not seem to be as abundant 

 this year as usual. I noted only one Cliff Swallow, but as 

 they seldom go far from the barn where they nest, and their 

 colonies are not very common, it is not to be wondered at. 

 The most abundant migratory birds seen during the day were 

 the Warblers ( mostly Chestnut-sided, Nashville, Tennessee, 

 and Redstarts ), and the Gray-cheeked and Olive-backed 

 Thrushes, the Thrushes being ver}^ abundant. 



THK bONG OF THE DICKCISSELL. Spiza americajia. 



BY P. M. SILLOWAY 



Whiling away a recent afternoon over some old piles of 

 ornithological literature, I found an interesting article entitled 

 "Dickcissell in His Illinois Haunts." One paragraph partic- 

 ularly attracted my attention: "The song of this interesting 

 bird invariably begins with three notes, very much resembling 

 the syllables Dick! Dick! Dick! These are followed by an 

 indescribable warble with the notes running rapidly together." 

 In his excellent characterization of the song, the writer per- 

 haps unconsciously made use of a term which effectually limits 

 Dickcissell to only one song, the one beginning with the three 

 notes mentioned. Now it happened that duiing my last sum- 

 mer in Illinois, 1898, I made some special observations re- 

 garding the musical ability of Dickcissell, and it may not be 

 amiss to record a part of the notes then entered in my journal. 

 I trust that ray friend Mr. Hess will not take this contribu- 

 tion as a criticism of his excellent article in thai old Oologist, 

 but merely as a ftirther addition to our fund of recorded 

 observations. 



During July, 1898, my home at Virden, Illinois, was near 

 a forty-acre pasture, which was cut into two nearly equal 



