° 1919 ] Saunders, Song of the Ruby-croivned Kinglet. 527 



this difference clearer than mere verbal description could. In 

 general, the song of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet consists of three 

 parts. The first part is a series of faint, high-pitched notes, rather 

 squeaky in quality. The second part is much lower in pitch, 

 sometimes more than an octave, and consists of a series of short, 

 chatter-like notes. The pitch of these notes usually rises slightly. 

 The third and final part of the song is the loudest and most con- 

 spicuous, as shown by the heavy lines in the record. It is in this 

 part that the variation occurs. 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. Both eastern and 

 western birds sometimes omit the first two parts of the song, and 

 sing the third part only. When the western bird does this the 

 song strongly suggests a common call of the Tufted Titmouse. 



Glancing at the illustrations of these two songs, the main differ- 

 ences in them are at once apparent to the eye, as they are to the 

 ear, of one who listens to the singers. A more detailed examination 

 will show other differences in these two songs, but these are differ- 

 ences that are merely individual. As they are not at once apparent 

 to the eye in the illustration, so they are not noted by the ear in 

 the field, unless one makes a careful detailed study of the song. 



While there is much variation among individual Kinglets in the 

 rendering of their songs, I have never heard a song in eastern 

 United States that resembled that of the western bird. In the 

 same way I have never heard a bird on the breeding grounds in 

 the west sing in a manner resembling the song of the eastern bird. 

 In the spring of 1910 I did hear the eastern song from a number of 

 birds that were migrating in Silver Bow County, Montana. These 

 birds were all in clumps of willow bushes in the Transition zone, 

 a place where this species may be found in numbers during the 

 migrations. But in the fir forests of the Canadian zone, where 

 this species breeds, the birds without exception sang the song of the 

 western bird. This same statement, will apply after seven summers 

 of experience on the breeding grounds of this species in the moun- 

 tains of Montana. 



To name a new subspecies on the basis of a difference in song 



