™- ™ VII j General Notes. 595 



eastern part of the United States and the songs of individuals of the same 

 species breeding in Montana. Mr. Saunders has represented the two 

 types of song graphically and has explained that the variation occurs in 

 the third, final, and loudest part of the song. He says: "Eastern birds 

 sing it as a series of triplets, the notes of each triplet rising in pitch, and 

 the last note accented, that is, both loudest and longest in duration. 

 Western birds sing a series of double notes, all on the same pitch, the 

 first note of each double being the accented one." 



In many widely-separated localities in the province of Nova Scotia, 

 where this Kinglet is on its breeding-grounds, the final part of its song 

 invariably, in my experience, corresponds with Mr. Saunders' description 

 of the same part of the song of eastern birds as heard by him in migration 

 farther south. Using written syllables in place of Mr. Saunders' graphs, 

 with which I am not familiar, I should give the Nova Scotian type of 

 ending, as wud-a-weet, wud-a-weel, wud-a-weel, wud-a-weet. 



About Quebec, P. Q., which is the only place outside of Nova Scotia 

 where I have heard the song of this bird, the species is a transient migrant 

 only, and the songs differ much in type of ending. My interest having 

 been aroused by Mr. Saunders' paper, I recorded the type of song-ending 

 used by each Ruby-crowned Kinglet which I heard singing about Quebec 

 during the spring migration of 1920. As the birds were transients, there 

 was no way of determining identity of individual birds heard on different 

 days, and each bird heard each day was therefore recorded as a unit. The 

 first record was made on May 2, the last on May 31. At the close of the 

 migration the records were grouped by classes and totalled, with the fol- 

 lowing results: 



Type of Song-ending. 



1. wud-a-weel, wud-a-weet, etc. (3 syllables, accent on third). . 1 record 



2. pul-e-cho, pul-e-cho, etc. (3 syllables, accent on second) .... 2 record 



3. jim-in-y, jim-in-y, etc. (3 syllables, accent on first) 50 



4. you-eet, you-eet, etc. (2 syllables, accent on second) 1 



5. pe-to, pe-to, etc. (2 syllables, accent on first) 9 



Total number of singing birds recorded 63 



It will be observed that: 



1. All possible classes of single-accented two-syllable and three-syllable 

 phrases, including both of those noted by Mr. Saunders (Nos. 1 and 5,) 

 were recorded. 



2. The type of phrase (No. 1) recorded by Air. Saunders in the eastern 

 United States and by myself in Nova Scotia was noted but once at Quebec. 



3. The type of phrase (No. 5) recorded by Mr. Saunders from Mon- 

 tana only was the second in frequency of occurrence at Quebec. 



4. The majority of the songs heard at Quebec are of a type (No. 3) 

 not noted in Montana, Nova Scotia, or the Atlantic seaboard of the 

 United States. 



