594 THE BIRDS OF MANITOBA THOAirtSOX. 



poured forth as the bird rises hiiih ill tlie. air. An English friend, on 

 first hearing it exclaimed that it was the voice of a real skylark, but 

 it proved shorter and weaker. The bird begins to sing as he leaves the 

 prairie, and sings and soars till he has reached a height of 50 or GO 

 feet, when he again returns to earth. 



This air song is not heard nearly as frequently as the common perch- 

 ing song is in its proper season, nor lia\e I heard both at the same 

 time of year. The perching song alone is heard during May and June, 

 and again after the fall molt there is a renewal of the spring chaut- 

 ings — an aftermath of song — for the bird ceases his soaring lay and 

 once more sings for the setting of the sun. 



This has an interesting bearing on the theory that many species often 

 become perforce air singers on betaking themselves to prairie life. 



But the song that this species utters -late in the day is its sweetest 

 if not its supreme efitbrt, at the time when the reddening sun is near- 

 ing the horizon when, as the prairie farmers say, it casts no shadow ; 

 when, in reality, the ground is all in shade of the low ridges to the 

 west. A bird on the prairie is in that shadow, but on springing up 

 in the air the ruddy glow falls on him as he faces the setting sun and 

 renews the song he sang for his rising. So springs and sings the 

 Meadow-lark and many other ground birds, and having vented their 

 feelings in this last good night, sink down into the night which is 

 already on the ground. Then, as the sky darkens, the eastern colors 

 become those of the west, and the east grows somber, the general 

 acclamation dies away, but the Bay winged Bunting sings on cheerily as 

 ever, and is commonly left to sing alone in the gloaming loud as in the 

 daytime, but seeming twice as loud. The peaceful notes are poured 

 forth till the whole prairie seems lulled by the sweetness of the strain. 

 This is the vesper song — this is the Vesper Bird. 



The little bay wing {Foocwtcs (/ramineus) is oue of the most familiar of prairie 

 birds, and nightly siugs a subdued kind of vesper song as the sun goes down. Its 

 most notable peculiarity, however, is its habit of flitting along a trail or pathway in 

 front of an advancing wagon or person, alighting every few yards As it is but 

 comparatively recent tliat there have been any human trails over tlie prairies, it 

 seems probable that this proceeding is a relic of a habit acquired by the bird of flit- 

 ting before the bufl^aloes along the paths made by those animals. (Christy.) 



187. Ammodramus sandwicheiisis alaudiims. Western Savanna Sparrow. 



Abundant summer resident on the prairies. Breeds in profusion from 

 Pembina westward, along the boundary to the Itockies (Coues). One 

 from Red River Settlement in Smithsonian Institution (Blakistou). 

 Winnipeg: Summer resident ; abundant (Hiue). Portage la Prairie: 

 Common summer resident (Nash), iied Deer River and Manitoba 

 House (Macoun). Carberry : Abundant summer resident; breeding in 

 all prairies near Rapid City, near Bartle, Silver Creek, Rat Portage, 

 October (Thompson). 



On June 18, 1882, within a few feet of a straw stack in the barnyard, 



