296 General Notes. [April 



In view of the lack of any intensive study of the Boattail's life history, 

 it is perhaps not surprising that a certain deceptive feature of its song 

 has failed to be generally understood. 



The species was in full voice as early in the season as January 20, at 

 Mayport. Here some males were perching in a live-oak and uttering 

 their not unpleasing notes, which suggested somewhat a European Star- 

 ling's medley. On Merritt's Island, where I found small numbers of 

 these birds on February 19, I began to pay close attention to the male's 

 musical performance, and more particularly to that part of it which Chap- 

 man describes as "a singular rolling call, which bears a close resemblance 

 to the sound produced by a Coot in pattering over the water." 1 A male, 

 which was sitting on a stake in the marsh and indulging persistently in its 

 curious song, furnished a convenient subject for observation. The song 

 seems to vary in length with individuals, but one performance that I 

 heard to particular advantage (this was at Sebastian, a few days later) 

 might be rendered as follows: kip, kip, kip, kip-kip-kip-kip-kip-kip-kip, 

 chrrr, chrrr, chrrr, chrrr, chrrr, chrrr, pt-pt-pt-pt-pt-pt-pt-pt. The first 

 part consists of a succession of simple, short kips, the first few given more 

 slowly than the rest; the second part, of rolling, guttural chirrings; and 

 the third part, of the sound described by Chapman. I noticed that 

 when the bir.d reached the final part of its song, it vibrated or slightly 

 fluttered its wings, so that their tips appeared to strike either together 

 or against the upper side of the tail. At the same time the bill had the 

 appearance of partly closing. I therefore concluded that the sound was 

 not vocal, but wing-made; and a number of subsequent observations 

 strongly confirmed me in this opinion. 



It was not until my last morning in Florida (at Fernandina, Febru- 

 ary 27) that I was undeceived. I then had an excellent view of a bird 

 that was walking over the muddy shore, and saw that its wing-tips did 

 not touch during the final part of the song, though they vibrated a little. 

 A little later another bird, perched on a telephone pole, did not appear 

 to vibrate its wings at all during the song. I could plainly see the bill 

 in a sort of rattling motion, however, and finally realized that it was the 

 rapid striking together of the mandibles that produced the sound sug- 

 gestive of that which a Coot makes in pattering over the water. 



On my return from the field I was interested to find that the few pub- 

 lished accounts of this feature of the song disagree as to the manner in 

 which it is produced. Mr. Arthur T. Wayne writes that "the males 

 . . . perch upon a limb of some tree and with their wings make a 

 loud rolling sound. This peculiar noise is also made while the birds are 

 flying." 2 Bradford Torrey, in his delightful 'Florida Sketch-book,' has 

 given so apt an account of the Boattail and its music that it seems worth 



• Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America, 1912, p. 368. 

 2 Birds of South Carolina, 1910, pp. 112-113. 



